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CO 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
CHURCH  IN  CHINA 


FRQM  THE  LIBF^RX  OF 

COLLEGE 


TO 


: 


V—* 


The  Story  of  the 
Church  in  China 


By 

ARTHUR  R.  GRAY 

and 

ARTHUR    M.  SHERMAN 


The  Domestic  and   Foreign   Missionary  Society 

New  York 

'9*3 


136239 
OCT  2  2  1991 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Preface  ix 

PART  I 

I     The  Beginnings 3 

II     The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai 33 

III     Ebb  and  Flow 71 

PART  II 

I     Significant  Development  in  Educational  Work...  87 

II     The  Struggle  to  Survive  in  Wuchang 99 

III  Changing  Attitude  Towards   Foreigners 109 

IV  Into  New  Fields 125 

V     Expanding  Opportunities 141 

VI     Further  Development  of  the  Upriver  Wrork 165 

VII     Forging  Ahead 183 

VIII     The    War    With    Japan— and    its    Far    Reaching 

Effect  Upon  the  China  Mission 197 

IX    A  Survey  of  the  Work  at  the  End  of  the  Century  215 

X    The  Boxer  Movement  and  After 229 

XI     Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction.... 245 

XII     A  Time  of  Harvest 265 

XIII  New  Ventures  of  Faith 291 

XIV  Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold 307 

XV    Wuhu — The  New  Missionary  District ;  the  Organ 
ization  of  the  Sheng  Kung  Hui 323 

XVI     The  Revolution  and  the  Outlook 331 

APPENDICES 

A    List  of  Missionaries 341 

B     Chronology  of  the  Mission 352 

Index  363 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Chinese  Summer  Palace  Near  Peking Frontispiece 

Girls  of  St.  Agnes'   School,  Anking,  at  the  Wash 

Tubs Page    142 

The  Orphanage,  Shanghai "      142 

The    Creek    Which    Makes    St.    John's    University 

Campus  a  Peninsula "     112 

The    Main    Entrance    to    the    Mission    Compound, 

Wusih   112 

A  Confirmation  Class  at  an  Outstation "       62 

An  Outstation  Chapel "       62 

Chinese  Presbyters— Rev.  Y.  T.  Fu;  Rev.  T.  K.  Hu  "     189 
The    Church    and    Some    of    the    Congregation    at 

Tai-Hu   236 

Ingle  Hall,  Boone  University,  Wuchang "     236 

An  Elderly  Christian  in  the  District  of  Shanghai...  "     219 
A  Great  Gathering  of  Male  Communicants  from  the 

Shanghai  District,  Planning  for  Church  Extension  "     219 

The  Assembly  Room,  St.  Mary's  Hall,  Shanghai...  "     241 

The  School  Chapel,  Anking "     295 

St.  John's  Pro-Cathedral,  Shanghai "     295 

A  Group  of  Girls'  Day  School  Teachers "     313 

A  Typical  Girls'  Day  School "     313 

The  Shanghai  Mission  in  Early  Days,  Hongkew "       33 

A  Chinese  Christian  Priest  With  Part  of  His  Fam 
ily—The  Rev.  Lieo  Yin  Tsung,  Hankow 78 

The  First  Synod  of  the  Chung  Hua  Sheng  Kung 
Hui,    Shanghai,    April,    1912 — American,    British, 

Chinese  and  Canadian  Delegates "     328 

(1)  Soldiers  Bringing  a  Wounded  Comrade  to  St. 

Peter's  Hospital,  Wuchang "     120 

(2)  The  Commonest  Way  of  Bringing  Patients  to 

the  Hospital "  120 

(3-4)  Other  Methods  of  Conveying  Patients  to  the 

Hospital  Gate  "  120 

Slave  Girls  in  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital,  Shanghai...  "  269 

Main  Building,  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  Shanghai "  269 

Altar  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Shanghai "  168 

Wall  Around  St.  Saviour's  Chapel,  Wuchang "  168 


Preface 

THE  following  story  has  been  written  to 
meet  a  real  demand.    In  Miss  Richmond's 
history  the  fads  and  figures  are  compre 
hensively  arrayed,  and  to  it  the  reader  is  recom 
mended  to  turn  for  details  omitted  in  this  volume. 

The  objecl:  of  this  book  is  to  provide  the 
general  reader,  who  is  not  interested  in  dates  and 
data,  with  a  sketch  of  such  a  nature  as  will  hold 
his  or  her  attention. 

The  first-named  Author  is  the  Educational 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions  and  the 
second  a  clerical  member  of  the  Hankow  staff. 
The  Authors  felt  acutely  their  limitations  to  do 
such  a  piece  of  work,  but  the  call  was  clear  and 
they  could  not  refuse,  and  they  are  at  least  happy 
to  say  that,  however  imperfect  the  book  may  be, 
it  represents  a  labor  of  love  and  joy. 

The  Church  in  China  is  so  desperately  im 
portant  to  her  people's  welfare  in  this  time  of 
wide  emergency,  and  the  need  for  help  is  so 
great,  that  we  earnestly  hope  that  some,  at  least, 
who  read  this  story  will  be  inspired  to  do  large 
things  and  to  pray  large  prayers  for  the  prosperity 
of  the  Chung  Hua  Sheng  Kung  Hui. 

ARTHUR  R.   GRAY 
ARTHUR   M.  SHERMAN 


The  Story  of 
The  Church  in  China 

Part   I 


THE    BEGINNINGS 


CHAPTER  I 
JHE   BEGINNINGS 

The  first  part  of  this  book  will  be  very  simple. 
To  be  sure  it  deals  with  a  big  subject,  but  that 
very  self-same  big  thing  had  a  most  unpretentious 
beginning,  and  therefore  it  would  be  out  of  place 
to  deal  with  it  in  any  but  a  very  simple  way.  How 
true  it  is  that  the  things  which  are  most  worth 
while  began  in  apparent  insignificance.  Was  not 
the  beginning  of  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world — 
the  only  eternal  thing — so  small  and  silent  that 
none  knew  it  had  begun  except  a  few  poor  shep 
herds  on  the  plains  of  Palestine? 

Augustus  Foster  Lyde.  The  Church's  work  in 
China  had  its  origin  in  the  heart  of  a  student  at  the  Gen 
eral  Seminary  in  New  York  just  eighty  years  ago.  His 
name  was  Augustus  Foster  Lyde,  and  he  had  been  born 
one  hundred  years  ago,  on  the  4th  of  February,  in 
Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  Graduated  with 
highest  honors  from  Washington  (now  Trinity) 
College,  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  he  had  entered 
the  New  York  Seminary  in  1831.  If  there  only  had 
been  preserved  some  record  of  his  life  there,  one 
might  be  able  to  tell  exactly  when  and  how  his 


4  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

thoughts  turned  in  the  direction  of  the  mighty  and 
mysterious  land  of  Cathay — that  land  whereof  so 
little  was  known. 

Just  how  little  China  was  known  in  those  days 
it  is  hard  for  us  to  realize.  There  had  been  a 
time  to  be  sure,  before  the  Turks  set  up  a  bar 
rier  between  the  West  and  the  East,  when  inter 
communication  between  them  had  been  compara 
tively  easy,  but  those  days  had  gone  and  cara 
vans  no  longer  crossed  the  deserts  with  impunity. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  to  reach  the 
Orient  meant  to  round  the  Horn,  and  to  do  that 
meant  to  journey  for  the  fabulous  year  and  a  day. 
As  a  result,  the  Europeans  knew  practically  noth 
ing  about  the  land  of  the  fabled  Kublai  Khan. 
Whenever  travellers  managed  to  get  there  and  back 
their  tales  were  listened  to  with  incredulity.  Be 
yond  the  fact  that  the  inhabitants  were  yellow, 
and  wore  their  hair  long,  and  ate  unmentionable 
things — beyond  this,  nothing  was  known  of  far 
Cathay.  If  one  looks  through  books  upon  China, 
he  will  find  that  in  1830  there  was  not  one  of  any 
practical  value.  It  would  not  be  a  very  rash  guess 
to  say  that  there  was  not  a  single  book  about 
the  land  in  the  library  of  the  Seminary  when  young 
Lyde  went  there. 

How,  then,  did  he  become  interested  in  it?  It 
must  have  been  in  the  first  place  through  tales  told 
of  the  work  done  by  that  great  pioneer  Morrison, 
who  had  gone  out  just  six  years  before  Lyde  was 
born.  Many  letters  he  had  written  home,  and 


The  Beginnings  5 

tales  of  his  prodigious  labors  in  translating  and 
in  making  a  Chinese  dictionary  had  doubtless  come 
to  the  ears  of  the  Seminary  student  in  New  York. 
And  then  again,  Peter  Parker  had  gone  out  from 
Yale  to  be  a  missionary,  and  his  fame  had  spread 
throughout  the  land.  Again,  China's  trouble  with 
the  proud  powers  of  Western  Europe  had  begun, 
so  that  it  was  beginning  to  be  an  item  of  impor 
tance  in  the  newspapers.  These  things,  and  the 
new  interest  which  had  just  been  aroused  in  mis 
sions  by  the  organization  of  the  Domestic  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  ten  years  before,  had 
turned  the  thoughts  of  young  men  to  the  possi 
bility  of  serving  their  Lord  outside  the  limits  of 
the  United  States. 

Curiously  enough,  reversing  the  policy  of  St. 
Paul  and  the  Church  at  large  in  carrying  the  cross 
westward,  our  Church  had  at  first  turned  its  eyes 
eastward,  and  Liberia  and  Greece  and  Constanti 
nople  had  been  the  first  objects  of  its  missionary 
endeavors.  Up  until  the  year  1834  no  one  ap 
parently  had  suggested  that  we  endeavor  to  drive 
the  sway  of  ecclesiastical  empire  westward — beyond 
the  broad  Pacific. 

In  the  discussions  in  the  Missionary  Society  of 
the  General  Seminary,  however,  the  students  had 
brought  this  matter  forward,  and  with  such  ear 
nestness  that  results  followed,  the  chief  of  which 
was  that  in  his  senior  year  Lyde  decided  to  offer 
himself  as  a  missionary  to  China.  As  we  shall 
see,  his  determination  influenced  his  classmate, 


6  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Henry  Lockwood,  since  the  latter  was  destined  to 
be  the  pioneer.  To  Lyde,  however,  is  due  the  fact 
that  the  Foreign  Committee  of  the  then  very  primi 
tive  Board,  determined  to  undertake  the  enterprise. 

It  came  about  in  this  way.  The  young  man, 
full  of  zeal,  was  travelling  to  Philadelphia  in  the 
spring  of  1834  and  chanced  to  fall  in  with  two 
men  whose  counsels  had  great  weight  in  the  Mis 
sionary  Society:  Dr.  Milnor,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Committee,  and  Mr.  E.  A.  Newton.  They  were  on 
their  way  to  a  meeting  of  the  Society,  and  learning 
this,  young  Lyde  poured  out  his  heart,  telling  them 
of  his  desire  to  go  to  China,  and  begging  them  to 
make  the  land  an  object  of  the  Board's  endeavors.. 
So  impressed  were  these  gentlemen  that  at  a  meet 
ing  of  the  Society  on  the  13th  of  May,  Dr.  Milnor, 
after  Mr.  Newton  had  opened  up  the  subject,  moved 
and  carried  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  the  Board 
undertake  work  for  the  conversion  of  the  people 
of  Cathay. 

In  those  days,  however,  money  was  very  scarce, — 
the  total  income  of  the  Board  being  but  a  few 
thousand  dollars — and  it  was  one  thing  to  come 
to  a  decision,  and  another  to  take  action.  To  raise 
enough  money  to  send  one  man  to  China  was  an 
undertaking  quite  as  appalling  as  it  would  be  for 
us  today  to  undertake  to  raise  $200,000  for  some 
special  fund.  Still,  they  went  to  work,  and,  had 
all  gone  well,  young  Lyde  would  have  gone  out  as 
our  first  missionary.  But  the  seeds  of  the  great 
white  plague  had  long  been  in  him,  and  his  un- 


The  Beginnings  £ 

remitting  study  had  done  the  rest,  so  that  he  died 
in  Philadelphia  on  the  19th  of  November,  1834,  and 
lies  buried  in  the  Churchyard  of  St.  Peter's.  His 
tombstone  may  be  seen  there  to  this  day. 

The  death  of  this  young  man  made  no  small  im 
pression  upon  the  Church.  Bishop  Vail  of  Kan 
sas  wrote :  "An  event  like  this  is  a  mystery  too  deep 
to  be  fathomed  by  the  plummet  of  human  reason. 
*  *  *  The  sun  of  his  earthly  existence  arose  with  amaz 
ing  rapidity  and  brightness,  but  it  has  suddenly 
sunk  into  the  midnight  of  the  grave." 

Thus  died  the  real  founder  of  our  work  in  China. 
But  the  work  itself  went  on,  and  Henry  Lockwood 
who,  as  we  saw,  had  been  Lyde's  classmate  in  the 
Seminary,  came  forward  to  take  his  place. 

Lockwood  and  Hanson.  It  was  not  deemed  wise, 
however,  in  those  days  to  send  out  one  man  alone,  and 
a  search  was  accordingly  begun  for  another  volunteer. 
For  months  the  Foreign  Committee  sought  in  vain  for 
a  man  rash  enough  to  cross  the  Pacific.  It  was 
not  till  February,  1835,  when  the  Reverend  Francis 
R.  Hanson,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Prince 
George's  County,  Maryland,  volunteered,  that  their 
search  was  ended  and  the  way  made  open.  All  be 
ing  ready  therefore,  on  the  last  day  in  the  month 
of  May,  in  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Philadelphia,  a 
farewell  meeting  was  held  under  the  presidency  of 
Bishop  White,  at  which  the  young  volunteers  were 
subjected  among  other  things  to  a  long  and  ponder 
ous  sermon-letter  of  instructions.  This  over,  they 
journeyed  to  New  York  and  attended  another  fare- 


8  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

well  meeting  in  St.  Thomas'  Church  on  the  1st 
of  June,  and  on  the  next  day,  in  the  good  ship 
"Morrison,"  they  sailed  for  Canton. 

At  this  period  the  amount  of  the  China  Mission 
Fund  was  only  a  little  over  $1,000,  but  as  has  hap 
pened  so  often,  certain  individuals  of  large  means 
and  charitable  disposition  promised  to  contribute 
whatever  extra  amount  was  needed  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  expedition  for  at  least  one  year. 
To  add  to  their  munitions  of  war,  the  American 
Bible  Society  had  given  them  three  hundred  Bibles 
for  distribution  among  the  peoples  whom  they 
sought  to  serve,  and  $1,000  in  cash  for  the  purchase 
of  copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  Morrison's  Chinese 
version ;  and  from  the  Bible  Society  of  Philadelphia 
came  $100  to  be  used  for  a  similar  purpose. 

And  so  they  sailed  away,  almost  "for  a  year  and  a 
day,"  to  a  land  quite  as  mythical  then  to  Americans 
as  is  the  one  told  of  in  the  nursery  rhyme  "where  the 
bog  tree  grows."  Fortunately  for  the  adventurers, 
the  voyage  was  a  pleasant  one.  No  fabled  anthro 
pophagi  or  Chinese  pirates,  of  which  latter  there 
were  many,  disturbed  the  serenity  of  their  journey, 
and  they  reached  Lintin,  at  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor  of  the  only  place  where  they  could  land  in 
those  days,  Canton,  on  the  4th  of  October,  and 
were  warmly  welcomed  by  the  few  resident  Amer 
icans.  Let  the  story  be  continued  in  their  own 
words : 

"Being  obliged  to  wait  here  several  days,  before 
going  up  to  Canton,  we  availed  ourselves  of  the 


The  Beginnings  9 

opportunity  to  visit  Mr.  Gutzlaff  at  Macao.1  He 
received  us  very  cordially,  and  kindly  offered  us  all 
the  assistance  and  advice  he  could  give." 

From  Lintin  they  proceeded  up  to  Canton,  from 
where  they  write : 

"We  were  welcomed  in  the  most  friendly  manner 
by  Mr.  Olyphant,  as  well  as  by  Mr.  Bridgman  and 
Dr.  Parker,  missionaries  of  the  American  Board. 
Mr.  O.  very  kindly  had  rooms  prepared  for  us  in 
his  establishment,  and  we  were  invited  by  Mr. 
Bridgman,  who  has  rooms  in  the  same  factory,  to 
remain  at  his  table  during  our  stay  in  Canton.  We 
take  peculiar  pleasure  in  acknowledging  our  obli 
gations  to  the  former  gentleman,  for  the  constant 
friendly  interest  manifested  in  our  behalf;  and, 
among  the  rest,  could  not  fail  to  notice  his  having 
taken  upon  himself  the  charge  of  our  passage  from 
the  ship  to  the  city,  the  usual  price  of  which  is 
£15  for  each  passenger. 

"Divine  Service  is  conducted  here  by  Mr.  Bridg 
man,  once  every  Sunday,  for  the  benefit  of  the  For 
eign  residents.  From  thirty  to  fifty  usually  attend, 
though  the  number  here  is  generally  more  than 
twice  as  large.  For  the  last  two  Sundays  we  have, 

'Karl  Friedrich  August  Gutzlaff  had  been  sent  to  Batavia 
by  the  Netherland  Missionary  Society  in  1826.  In  1828,  by 
which  time  he  had  become  proficient  in  the  Chinese  language, 
he  severed  connection  with  his  "home  base"  and  went  to 
China  on  his  own  account,  and  after  various  adventures  had 
been  appointed  in  1834  successor  to  the  great  Protestant  pio 
neer,  Morrison,  as  interpreter  and  secretary  to  the  British 
Ambassador  to  China.  He  was  one  of  the  great  missionaries 
of  the  early  days. 


io          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

at  the  request  of  Mr.  B.,  performed  the  service  and 
preached.  We  were  pleased  with  the  numerous 
attendance,  as  well  as  the  appearance  of  interest 
exhibited.  A  large  proportion  of  the  gentlemen 
here  are  English,  and  of  course  have  a  preference 
for  our  service." 

Knowing,  as  they  did  before  they  went  out,  that 
it  would  not  be  possible  for  them  to  settle  at  first 
among  the  people  whom  they  intended  to  convert — • 
knowing  that  two  things  would  prevent  this,  first 
their  utter  ignorance  of  the  language,  and  second 
the  laws  of  the  land  which  forbade  foreigners 
to  reside  anywhere  outside  a  few  English,  Portu 
guese  and  Dutch  trading  posts, — realizing  these 
things  before  leaving  America,  the  missionaries  had 
decided,  from  the  few  facts  and  bits  of  information 
obtainable,  that  the  best  place  for  them  to  settle 
till  they  could  speak  the  language  and  learn  the 
ropes  was  Singapore.  From  Canton  accordingly 
they  write : 

"The  reasons  that  induced  us  to  regard  Singapore 
as  the  most  eligible  place  for  establishing  ourselves, 
at  present,  have  all  been  confirmed  since  arriving 
here.  We  have  accordingly  determined  on  going 
there,  and  are  now  only  waiting  for  a  passage,  which 
we  expect  can  be  obtained  in  a  few  days.  Its  dis 
tance  from  the  main  field  of  operations  offered  the 
only  objection  to  our  minds,  being  about  1,500  miles 
from  this  place.  But  even  this  can  be  of  no  great 
consequence,  as  the  communication  between  the  two 
places  is  constant  and  direct,  and  the  passage  (at 


The  Beginnings  If 

this  season  of  the  year)  is  generally  performed  in 
less  than  ten  days,  which  is  considered  in  this  part 
of  the  world,  but  a  small  trip.  Communications 
from  home  may  also  reach  us  sooner  by  way  of 
Batavia,  than  at  this  place. 

"Singapore  is  the  nearest  settlement  to  China, 
which  is  under  English  control,  and  its  advantages, 
on  this  latter  account,  will  be  apparent.  An  estab 
lishment  at  any  of  the  Dutch  or  Spanish  settlements 
lying  nearer  would  be  out  of  the  question,  their  sys 
tem  of  exclusion  being  scarcely  less  strict  than  that 
of  the  Chinese." 

It  seems  that  they  could  have  remained  on  the 
mainland  and  begun  their  work  where  they  were, 
but  they  feared  that  they  would  see  but  little  of 
the  natives  if  they  did  so.  They  wrote  on  this 
point : 

"There  is  no  positive  obstacle  in  the  way  of  our 
remaining  at  Canton,  as  the  residence  of  the  Mis 
sionaries  here  shows.  Indeed,  on  some  accounts, 
we  think  it  important  that  our  Society  should,  if 
possible,  sustain  a  missionary  here.  But  its  advan 
tages,  in  many  respects,  particularly  such  as  arise 
from  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  natives,  are 
limited  compared  with  those  at  Singapore.  Here 
you  are  closely  watched;  even  your  servants  are 
spies ;  and  no  one,  even  if  he  has  a  disposition,  dares 
to  be  on  familiar  terms  with  the  'fan  Kidei'  (Foreign 
devils)  as  we  are  called." 

Batavia  the  First  Station.  The  next  we  hear  from 
the  Missionaries  shows  that  despite  their  careful 


12  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

reckonings  they  found  it  best  to  change  their  minds 
about  Singapore.  Under  date  of  February  29,  they 
wrote  from  Batavia: 

"Our  last  communications  to  the  Society  were 
forwarded  from  Singapore  and  contained  informa 
tion  of  our  intention  to  come  to  this  place.  We 
also  sent  some  papers  written  by  Mr.  Medhurst, 
showing  the  principal  reasons  that  induced  us  to 
change  our  purpose  of  remaining  at  Singapore. 
We  went  on  board  a  Dutch  brig  at  that  place  on 
Saturday  the  12th  of  December,  and  arrived  here 
on  the  22d  of  the  same  month. 

"The  situation  of  things  we  have  found  fully 
as  favorable  to  the  prosecution  of  our  objects  as 
has  been  represented.  The  field  of  Missionary  labor 
among  the  Chinese  and  Malay  population  is  im 
mense;  and  what  is  more,  there  are  no  important 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  being  improved.  The 
opportunities  of  intercourse  with  every  sort  of 
people  here  are  unlimited.  You  may  go  out  at  any 
time  of  the  day,  and  to  almost  any  place,  and  find 
multitudes  of  people  to  whom  you  may  preach,  dis 
tribute  books,  or  converse  on  any  subject  without  fear 
of  interruption,  and  may  be  certain  of  being  always 
received  with  respect,  if  not  with  serious  attention. 
The  Chinese  here,  are,  to  a  great  extent,  free  from 
that  national  prejudice  against  foreigners,  which,  in 
their  own  country,  forms  so  strong  a  barrier  against 
all  efforts  to  do  them  good." 

This  is  followed  by  an  account  of  their  visit  to 
the  Governor  General,  the  which,  because  of  the 


The  Beginnings  13 

local  color  it  provides,  is  well  worth  putting  into 
print  again : 

"As  all  persons  who  intend  to  remain  here  longer 
than  six  weeks  are  obliged  by  law  to  ask  permis 
sion  from  the  government  to  do  so,  we  made  a 
visit  to  Bintenzorg,  the  residence  of  the  Governor 
General,  a  short  time  ago,  for  the  purpose  of  pre 
senting  our  petition.  Our  company  consisted  of 
four  besides  ourselves,  Mr.  Medhurst,  Mr.  Arms, 
lately  arrived  from  the  American  Board,  a  Dutch 
Missionary  and  a  young  man  assisting  Mr.  Med 
hurst,  Mr.  Young.  We  started  in  a  post  coach  a 
little  after  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  performed 
the  journey  in  about  four  hours — a  distance  of 
thirty-six  miles  over  a  most  excellent  road,  through 
a  charming  country.  From  the  inn  we  sent  up  a 
note  with  our  names  to  the  Governor,  requesting 
an  interview,  and  soon  after  received  an  invitation 
to  dine.  We  were  received  in  a  friendly  manner, 
and  his  Excellency  appeared  to  take  some  interest 
in  our  object,  as  well  as  in  Missions  generally.  He 
informed  us,  however,  that  as  he  is  about  to  be 
superseded  in  office  and  to  return  to  Holland,  our 
petition  would  go  before  his  successor;  but  that 
it  would  undoubtedly  be  favorably  received,  and  that 
we  should  meet  with  no  difficulty  in  pursuing  our 
objects.  In  the  petition  it  was  required  to  state 
our  names,  profession  and  country;  our  purpose  in 
coming  here,  with  a  brief  account  of  the  Society 
under  whose  direction  we  had  come  out,  and  our 
wishes  to  remain.  This  was  translated  into  Dutch 


14          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

before  being  sent.  We  have  not  yet  had  a  reply, 
but  expect  it  soon,  for  which  a  stamp  duty  of  about 
$40  each  will  be  required." 

When  they  had  first  made  their  plans,  they 
imagined  that  it  would  be  possible  for  them  to 
become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  language 
and  peoples  and  religions  of  China  within  a  com 
paratively  short  time.  But  their  experience  in 
Batavia  soon  convinced  them  that  they  had  mis 
calculated.  A  task  different  from  anything  for 
which  they  had  prepared  themselves  confronted 
them.  Men  going  out  today  have  all  sorts  of 
things  to  help  them,  but  Hanson  and  Lockwood 
had  no  modern  advantages.  They  had  to  grope 
blindly,  as  it  were,  through  the  mists  of  an  un 
charted  ocean.  It  did  not  take  them  long  to  decide 
that  the  thing  to  do  was  to  make  the  best  of  their 
enforced  captivity  and  to  settle  down.  Aye  more, 
to  preach  the  gospel  there.  Now  since  they  could 
not  well  preach  in  a  language  understanded  of  the 
people,  they  did  the  next  best — perhaps  the  best — 
thing,  and  opened  a  school  for  boys.  Thus  it  came 
to  pass  that  the  first  oriental  work  done  under  the 
auspices  of  our  Church  was  not  in  China  but  in 
Batavia  on  the  island  of  Java. 

This  was  so  unexpected  a  move  that  the  con 
scientious  spenders  of  the  Board's  hard  earned 
money  feared  that  the  people  at  home  might  think 
they  were  not  doing  their  duty  and  so  they  wrote: 

"The  Society  must  not  suppose  that,  because  we 
have  deemed  it  expedient  to  retire  for  a  time  from 


The  Beginnings  15 

China,  we  have  forgotten  our  original  destination, 
or  abandoned  the  hope  or  intention  of  preaching 
the  Gospel  within  that  vast  Empire.  As  soon  as 
we  acquire  the  language  of  the  Chinese  we  hope 
to  return,  and  trust  we  shall  be  privileged  to  con 
tribute  in  some  small  degree  to  the  overthrow  of 
superstition  and  vice  in  that  land.  But  patience 
must  have  her  perfect  work.  It  would  be  fanaticisn 
of  the  worst  kind  to  desire  or  anticipate  the  har 
vest  without  having  performed  the  labor  previously 
necessary.  He  who  would  preach  the  Gospel  success 
fully  in  China,  must  qualify  himself  for  it  in  the 
same  way  in  which  he  would  prepare  himself  to 
preach  the  Gospel  among  civilized  nations.  He 
must  become  acquainted  with  their  philosophy, 
modes  of  thought,  and  civil,  religious,  social  and 
domestic  institutions.  While  knowledge  continues 
to  be  acquired  only  by  slow  and  painful  steps,  this 
will  consume  time.  The  Society  must  not,  there 
fore,  expect  much  active  labor  from  us  for  some 
time.  If  in  two  or  three  years  we  acquire  a  suf 
ficient  knowledge  of  the  language  and  customs  of 
the  Chinese  to  justify  our  return  to  China,  it  will 
be  quite  as  much  as  can  reasonably  be  anticipated, 
and  more,  I  fear,  than  will  be  realized." 

But  now  an  event  happened  over  which  the  reader 
of  sentiment  will  rejoice.  Mission  work  is  lonely 
work  at  best,  and  one  of  our  heroes  found  it  too 
much  so  for  him.  Among  their  fellow  workers 
in  Batavia  were  the  Medhursts.  The  father  of  the 
family  was  for  many  years  a  faithful  servant  of 


16  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

his  Lord  under  the  direction  of  the  London  Mis 
sionary  Society.  His  daughter,  Sarah  Sophia,  ap 
pealed  particularly  to  Mr.  Lockwood,  and  he 
apparently  suited  her,  so  they  were  married,  and 
great  was  the  joy  that  came  to  the  heart  of  the 
lonely  worker. 

But  alas!  it  was  not  to  be  that  he  should 
remain  happy.  Tragedy  soon  darkened  the  door 
of  his  house,  for  after  but  a  few  months  Mrs.  Lock- 
wood  died. 

But  why  mention  one  whose  connection  with  the 
work  was  so  painfully  brief?  Because  she  was  our 
first  woman  missionary  in  the  Orient;  and  because 
she  was  a  woman  of  unusual  ability  and  conse 
cration  ;  and  because,  though  her  days  as  a  Church- 
woman  were  few,  she  became  deeply  devoted  to 
her  newly  adopted  Church ;  and  because  she  was 
the  first  of  that  long  line  of  saintly  women  who,  in 
the  service  of  our  Board,  have  laid  down  their 
lives  for  China. 

The  Situation  at  Home.  But  let  us  go  in  the  im 
agination  back  to  the  home  land  and  see  how  things 
were  progressing  there.  A  most  interesting,  and  to 
some  of  us  familiar  sight  greets  the  eyes.  Perhaps  no 
more  fundamental  question  ever  confronts  mission 
boards  than  this:  What  shall  be  done  if  more 
people  volunteer  for  the  field  than  there  is  money 
to  provide  for?  We  have  been  hearing  somewhat 
of  this  question  lately,  and  when  one  investigates 
the  situation  in  the  Board  rooms  in  1836  and  1837, 
he  finds  the  same  problem  staring  the  officers  in 


The  Beginnings  17 

the  face.  The  letters  from  their  representatives 
had  made  the  officers  wonder  whether  they  ought 
not  to  send  out  more  men.  If  the  work  were  worth 
being  done  at  all,  it  was  worth  being  well  done. 
Much  debate  had  been  carried  on  as  to  whether  or 
not  the  staff  should  be  increased.  But  then  the 
spectre  of  poverty  rose  up  and  said:  "Suppose 
somebody  else  volunteers,  what  will  you  do?" 

But  little  money  was  in  hand.  It  was  hard 
enough  to  get  the  wherewithal  to  support  Hanson 
and  Lockwood.  Would  it  not  be  madness  to  at 
tempt  to  send  out  a  third  missionary?  To  be  sure, 
money  was  coming  in  for  Domestic  work  better 
than  it  had.  An  editorial  in  The  Spirit  of  Mis 
sions  for  February,  1837,  speaks  with  enthusiasm 
of  collections  of  $717  at  St.  Anne's,  Brooklyn ;  of 
$1,002  at  the  Ascension  in  New  York;  and  $800 
at  St.  Thomas',  New  York.  "These  are  believed," 
the  editorial  interestingly  goes  on,  "to  be  the  largest 
plate  collections  which  have  ever  been  made  by 
any  congregation  of  our  communion  to  the  Cause 
of  Missions." 

In  those  days,  it  must  be  remembered,  a  strict 
differentiation  was  preserved  between  Domestic  and 
Foreign  work.  Indeed,  as  is  still  the  case  in  most 
of  the  other  Boards,  secretaries  were  designated 
as  either  Domestic  or  Foreign.  Now  the  generous 
collections  just  referred  to  were  for  Domestic  work 
— for  supporting  workers  in  such  then  "remote"  spots 
as  Florida  or  Louisiana.  Foreign  Missions  were 
receiving  no  such  golden  windfalls.  The  days  had 


i8  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

not  passed  when  men  said  from  their  pulpits  that 
the  Church  had  best  confine  her  attentions  to  her 
own  front  yard.  China?  What  and  where  was 
it?  Beyond  suggestions  of  tea  and  rice  and  mice 
and  junks,  China  meant  nothing  to  the  average 
American,  and,  if  it  is  hard  now  to  awaken  people 
to  the  needs  of  that  mammoth  republic,  what  must 
it  have  been  in  those  days?  No  thousand  dollar 
collections  were  likely  to  be  made  for  a  mission 
to  an  unknown  land. 

William  J.  Boone  Appears  Upon  the  Scene.  And 
yet  at  this  juncture,  when  the  question  arose 
as  to  whether  they  should  reinforce  Hanson  and 
Lockwood,  the  Board  had  faith  and  decided,  as  it 
almost  always  has  ever  since,  that  oblivion  were 
better  than  failure  to  advance.  Accordingly,  when 
the  Reverend  W.  J.  Boone  from  South  Carolina 
volunteered  to  join  the  workers  in  Batavia,  he  was 
accepted.  This  happened  at  the  Board  meeting  on 
January  17th,  1837.  Lest  their  supporters  should 
think  them  rash,  and  in  order  to  establish  the 
principle  that  when  men  of  unquestioned  ability 
volunteered  they  should  be  accepted,  the  editor 
wrote  in  The  Spirit  of  Missions  that  "the  Board 
having  on  the  18th  of  October  passed  a  vote,  imply 
ing,  in  their  view,  the  inexpediency  of  increasing 
at  present  the  number  of  Missionaries  to  China,  they 
are  now  induced  to  make  an  exception  in  favor  of 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Boone,  whose  qualifications  for 
that  field  are  of  peculiar  character,  and  whose  long 
and  devoted  self-consecration  to  the  spread  of  the 


The  Beginnings  19 

Gospel  in  China  gives  him  a  high  claim  to  such 
an  appointment." 

Thus  the  Church  made  a  step  forward,  and  a  far 
greater  one  than  it  realized,  since  it  had  yet  to  learn 
how  great  a  man  Boone  was;  and  thus  it  acted  on 
faith,  believing  that  God  would  provide  the  means 
wherewith  to  support  this  man — and  their  faith, 
one  is  glad  to  relate,  was  justified  within  a  very 
short  time. 

Relief  came  from  Boone's  own  part  of  the  world, 
and  in  very  substantial  form,  as  will  be  evidenced 
by  the  following  letter  received  shortly  after  the 
Committee  had  made  the  venture. 

"Charleston,  South  Carolina. 

"April  20th,  1837. 
"Rev.  and  Dear  Sir: 

"It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  inform  you  that 
I  am  authorized  by  my  congregation  (St.  Peter's) 
to  pledge  to  the  Foreign  Committee,  in  their  be 
half,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  annually  for 
the  salary  of  Reverend  W.  J.  Boone,  as  Missionary 
to  China. 

"With  frequent  and  fervent  prayers  for  the  bless 
ing  of  God  upon  this  and  all  other  efforts  to  ex 
tend  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  I  am,"  etc. 

Thus  the  reinforcement  of  the  men  at  the  front 
was  made  possible,  and,  all  being  well,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Boone  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  8th  of  July, 
1837.  It  was  not  until  the  22d  of  the  succeeding  Oc 
tober  that  they  reached  Batavia.  What  a  journey! 


2O  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

No  wonder  China  was  thought  of  as  a  land  beyond 
the  uttermost  seas. 

Progress  at  Batavia.  In  the  meantime  Lockwood 
and  Hanson  had  been  sending  in  encouraging  reports. 
The  school  with  twenty  Chinese  boys  and  ten  Chinese 
girls  was  prospering  famously.  "They  are  taught," 
writes  Mr.  Lockwood,  "by  a  native  master  to  read 
the  Chinese  classics,  and  also  the  New  Testament 
and  a  book  containing  simple  lessons  of  Christian 
truth,  written  by  Mr.  Medhurst.  They  assemble 
at  the  house  every  Sunday  afternoon,  where  we 
hear  them  read  a  lesson  and  give  them  such  oral 
instructions  as  our  knowledge  of  the  language  per 
mits.  By  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Barrenstyne,  a  Ger 
man  Missionary,  they  are  also  learning  to  read  the 
Malay  language  in  the  Roman  character,  and  to 
sing  devotional  tunes,  an  employment  of  which  they 
seem  very  fond." 

This  sounds  well,  and  shows  that  despite  the  fact 
that  they  were  not  in  China  they  were  really  ac 
complishing  something.  And  yet  that  something 
was  not  to  continue  long.  When  men  journey  from 
Maryland  to  Batavia  one  must  expect  something 
to  happen,  and  in  this  case  what  happened  was  the 
breaking  of  Mr.  Hanson's  health.  The  climate 
proved  too  much  for  him  and  to  the  regret  of  all 
he  was  forced  to  come  home  in  the  beginning  of 
1838. 

Disquietude  at  the  Home  Office.  Even  the  best 
men  become  impatient  at  times  and  this  time  impatience 
seems  to  have  seized  the  people  at  home.  Batavia  was 


The  Beginnings  21 

not  China,  it  was  frankly  no  more  than  a  stopping  place 
for  preliminary  study  and  examination.  To  be  sure  the 
workers  in  the  field  felt  this  quite  as  much  as  did  the 
people  at  home,  and  yet  the  Executive  Committee  did 
not  realize  it,  in  fact  they  asked  Mr.  Boone  to  make 
a  special  investigation  of  the  matter  upon  his  ar 
rival  in  the  field,  and  to  see  to  it  that  as  soon 
as  convenient  the  Mission  be  put  upon  a  permanent 
basis — which  meant  of  course,  in  China  proper. 

This,  however,  was  more  easily  ordered  than 
done.  Strangers  were  not  only  not  welcome,  but 
were  forbidden  to  travel  in  China.  It  was  the  eve 
of  the  first  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  a  white 
man's  religion  and  politics  not  being  distinguishable 
were  equally  detested.  Moreover,  occidentals  were 
considered  inferior  beings ;  their  governments  were 
only  recognized — if  recognized  at  all — as  tributary 
to  the  Emperor  of  China.  Lord  Napier,  for  ex 
ample,  coming  out  at  this  time  as  British  Ambassa 
dor,  had  been  absolutely  unable  to  obtain  an  inter 
view  with  any  high  official.  Low  officials  were 
considered  good  enough  to  deal  with  him. 

The  Opium  War  with  England.  The  opium  ques 
tion  was  the  burning  one.  To  China's  honor,  be  it  said, 
she  was  nearer  in  the  right  than  was  England.  Her 
leaders  wished  to  prevent  opium  from  being  imported. 
England,  on  the  other  hand,  wanted  a  continuance  of 
the  trade — her  trade — between  India  and  Canton  in  the 
accursed  drug.  What  then?  Neither  would  give 
way,  and  after  a  sort  of  Boston  "tea  party,"  in 
which  over  twenty  thousand  chests  of  opium  were 


22  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

destroyed,  the  inevitable  breach  followed,  and  a 
war  ensued  which  lasted  from  1840  to  1843. 

This,  be  it  noted,  came  later  than  the  events 
about  which  we  are  thinking,  but  reference  to  it 
was  necessary  to  illustrate  the  tension  of  the  times. 
The  point  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  Boone's 
arrival  was  at  the  moment  when  England  was 
trying  to  obtain  commercial  rights  from  the  Chinese, 
and  when,  despite  all  their  efforts,  her  emissaries 
failed  to  obtain  so  much  as  a  dignified  reception. 
They  were  treated  as  tribute  bearers  from  a  sub 
ject  state,  and  it  was  this  fact  which  was  really 
responsible  for  all  that  followed.  The  opium  dis 
pute  was  merely  the  occasion  for  the  war — it  would 
have  come  had  there  been  no  opium. 

Boone's  Arrival.  At  such  a  juncture  then,  Boone, 
under  special  orders  from  the  Board,  came  out  seeking 
for  a  place  at  which  to  establish  permanent  work  on  the 
mainland  of  the  great  Continent.  But  though  he 
came  full  of  confidence  he  found  that  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  proceed  as  rapidly  as  the  people  at 
home  had  hoped.  In  fact,  within  a  few  weeks  he 
discovered  that  Lockwood's  summing  up  of  the 
situation  was  correct;  that  obstacles — political  and 
linguistic — abounded,  and  wrote  home  shortly  after 
his  arrival  that  they  had  best  stay  where  they  were 
for  the  present.  Among  other  things  he  said : 

"I  believe  that  an  individual,  with  something  more 
than  ordinary  talent  for  acquiring  languages,  with 
a  good  ear  for  distinguishing  sounds,  provided  he 
has  been  accustomed  to  study  from  early  youth, 


The  Beginnings  23 

and  knows  how  to  apply  his  mind,  may  be  actively 
and  usefully  employed  among  the  Chinese  in  two 
or  three  years;  and  that  he  will,  from  the  first, 
make  such  improvement  as  will  encourage  him  to 
persevere,  with  strong  hope,  by  Divine  blessing, 
of  finally  mastering  all  opposing  difficulties." 

And  so  the  future  Bishop  made  up  his  mind  to 
follow  the  example  of  his  predecessors  and  settle 
in  Batavia  for  two  or  three  years.  How  little  he 
appreciated  the  uncertainties  of  the  situation !  How 
little  did  any  one  understand  the  uncertainties  of 
the  Orient!  Within  a  few  weeks  an  event  was 
to  happen  which  would  set  all  his  plans  at  nought. 
This  was  the  collapse  of  Mr.  Lockwood.  He  had 
long  been  ailing,  as  the  old  fashioned  saying  has 
it,  and  in  April  1839  he  was  forced  to  give  up  and 
go  back  to  America. 

Thus  it  was  that  Boone,  who  had  gone  out  in 
the  expectation  of  having  fellow  laborers,  was  left 
alone.  In  his  despair  he  wrote: 

"A  most  painful  opportunity  of  addressing  you  is 
afforded  by  the  departure  of  the  last  remaining 
brother  of  the  two  who  came  out  as  the  first  mis 
sionaries  from  our  Church  to  the  heathen. 

"Mysterious  indeed  is  the  dispensation  of  God, 
which  has  thus,  in  the  short  space  of  four  years, 
returned  them  both  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church 
from  which  they  came;  but  wise  doubtless  it  is, 
and  we  will  say  'righteous  art  Thou,  O  God,  in  all 
Thy  ways,  and  blessed  be  Thy  holy  name/  ***  Since 
the  impulse  (given,  as  I  firmly  believe,  by  the  Holy 


24  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Spirit)  to  the  Church  at  the  time  of  the  coming 
out  of  these  brethren,  scarce  any  who  were  not 
debating  then  with  themselves  their  duty  to  the 
heathen,  have  offered  their  services  to  the  Com 
mittee.  Soon  after  they  sailed,  or  about  that  time, 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,  eight  or  ten  candidates  for 
orders  came  forward,  saying  each  man,  'here  am 
I,  send  me.'  But  it  is  now  a  long  time  since  we 
have  heard  of  any  similar  movement  in  the  ranks 
of  our  younger  brethren.  But  should  not  the 
return  of  these  brethren  from  China  speak  in  a 
tenfold  louder  voice,  to  constrain  all  who  are  in 
circumstances  to  do  so,  if  it  is  not  their  duty  to 
come  and  fill  up  the  gap,  I  desire  to  lift  my  feeble 
voice  on  the  occasion,  and  say  to  them,  a  great 
breach  has  been  made — one  of  our  outposts  has 
been  almost  entirely  driven  in,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  advance  of  our  whole  por 
tion  of  the  Church  militant  may  be  much  affected 
by  the  promptitude  and  efficiency  with  which  this 
post  is  succored  and  sustained." 

Despite  the  gloom  into  which  he  was  thus  cast, 
the  solitary  Boone  determined  to  stand  by  his  guns. 
In  this  very  same  letter  he  writes  of  high  hopes 
and  new  plans,  and  of  a  determination  to  continue 
"for  some  years  the  present  efforts,"  He  can  see 
as  yet  no  hope  of  entering  China,  and,  therefore, 
prepares  to  settle  down.  He  has  not  yet  learned 
the  lesson  of  the  uncertainty  of  his  position. 

If  one  may  be  permitted  to  moralize  a  moment,  it 
might  be  said  that  Boone's  greatness,  as  well  as 


The  Beginnings  25 

the  greatness  of  all  missionaries,  lay  in  his  readiness 
to  feel  settled  wherever  he  was.  The  man  or  the 
woman  who  does  the  best  work  is  the  one  whose 
mind  is  not  dismayed  by  the  possibilities  of  change 
which  lie  ahead.  Many  an  able  man  is  prevented 
from  getting  to  the  heart  of  things  because  he  is 
always  wondering  how  long  he  will  be  in  his  present 
station.  Boone  never  lost  time  in  this  way.  Though 
he  never  knew  what  would  turn  up  on  the  morrow, 
he  always  worked  as  if  things  would  continue  as 
they  were,  and  thus  he  accomplished  much  and 
laid  large  foundations. 

As  has  been  said  the  godly  missionary  had  no 
idea  that  his  plans  would  soon  be  altered.  Little 
did  he  seem  to  dream  that  another  year  would  see 
the  abandonment  of  the  Batavia  work.  "We  are 
both  well  satisfied  that  *  *  *  there  is  no  other  place 
to  which  we  can  well  go."  He  even  went  so  far 
as  to  ask  that,  if  money  could  be  found,  a  house 
be  built  for  them. 

Batavia  Abandoned.  But,  as  has  been  seen,  things 
are  no  more  certain  in  Batavia  than  they  are  elsewhere, 
and  the  unexpected  happened.  As  late  as  August  1840, 
Boone  wrote  as  if  there  were  no  chance  of  a  change 
for  the  present.  He  had  been  ill,  and  Mrs.  Boone 
had  been  suffering  from  the  climate,  but  they  were 
content  and  believed  that  they  were  where  God 
meant  them  to  be.  And  then  suddenly  the  un 
expected  happened.  It  came  as  the  result  of  ac 
cumulated  mishappenings,  of  which  Dr.  Boone's 


26  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

health  was  the  most  prominent,  and  he  was  forced 
to  gather  up  his  belongings  and  move. 

Lockwood  had  written  that  the  climate  was  not 
so  horrible,  and  yet  in  the  same  letter  he  had  said 
that  the  continued  warmth  (it  got  as  low  as  72 
sometimes  in  winter)  made  it  almost  impossible 
for  one  to  recuperate  after  being  ill.  He  illustrated 
it  by  saying  that  a  man  felt  just  as  if  he  were  in 
a  "stuffy  room"  all  the  time.  Dr.  Boone  had  been 
worn  down,  and  to  save  his  life  it  became  neces 
sary  to  get  out  of  the  "stuffy  room"  at  once. 

Accordingly  he  and  Mrs.  Boone  left  for  a  six 
months  holiday  in  Macao,  intending  to  return  at 
the  end  of  that  time.  He  had  not  been  long  in 
China,  however,  before  he  decided  that,  inasmuch 
as  others  had  managed  to  settle  there,  there  was 
no  reason  why  he  should  not.  Therefore  he  began 
seeking  for  a  place  in  which  to  lay  the  permanent 
foundations  of  the  mission. 

Seeking  a  Permanent  Place.  Boone  was  a  man  of 
large  vision,  but  so  far  he  had  been  handicapped  by  the 
conditions  under  which  he  labored.  He  was  trying  to 
build  upon  another  man's  foundation,  which  is  just 
about  as  hard  a  thing  to  do  as  to  preach  or  speak  from 
another  man's  notes.  One  is  inclined  to  think  that 
had  he  been  the  first  to  go  out  he  would  never 
have  started  the  work  in  Batavia,  but  would  rather 
have  found  lodgment  somewhere  on  the  mainland. 
At  all  events,  that  is  what  he  now  undertook  to  do. 

But  what  place  should  he  select?  Macao,  the 
Portuguese  settlement,  where  life  was  almost  Euro- 


The  Beginnings  27 

pean,  and' where  the  comforts  and  luxuries  and  re 
finements  of  an  English  watering-place  could  be 
found?  No,  this  would  never  do,  or  at  least  there 
was  another  seaport,  Amoy  which  offered  greater 
advantages. 

To  begin  with,  our  missionary  had  learned  the 
Amoy  dialect  and  could  begin  there  without  further 
language  study.  And  then,  further,  it  offered  bet 
ter  opportunities  because  it  was  not  frequented  by 
soul-destroying  European  traders.  Already  the 
Congregationalists,  Presbyterians  from  the  United 
States  and  the  London  Missionary  Society  had  be 
gun  work  there  and  had  found  it  fertile  soil.  These 
and  other  reasons,  among  which  loomed  large  a 
better  climate,  seemed  to  him  to  close  the  question. 
But  he  would  not  decide  definitely  until  he  had 
made  a  trip  to  Amoy  and  investigated  the  situation.1 
This  he  did,  and  all  turning  out  as  he  had  expected, 
he  moved  his  family  and  effects  there  as  soon  as  it 
was  convenient.  It  was  on  the  7th  of  August,  1842, 
that  they  arrived  at  Ku-lang-su,  a  small  island  situ 
ated  half  a  mile  from  the  island  on  which  Amoy  lay. 

Let  Boone's  own  story  be  given  in  abbreviated 
form: 

"At  an  expense  of  about  $150  I  have  had  a  Chinese 
house,  that  was  injured,  repaired  and  made  com 
fortable  for  my  family;  and  here  I  trust,  by  God's 
blessing,  we  shall  be  permitted  to  abide  many  days. 
*  *  *  The  climate  is  milder  than  that  of  Macao  and 

1  There  is  a  valuable  summary  of  the  Amoy  work  in  The 
Spirit  of  Missions,  Vol.  XII,  page  24. 


28  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Mrs.  B.  and  myself  both  rejoice  that  we  have  now, 
after  five  years,  got  out  of  the  torrid  zone.  Ku-lang-su 
is  very  favorably  situated  for  missionary  operations ; 
it  is  within  half  a  mile  of  Amoy,  *  *  *  to  which  place 
we  can  go  in  a  boat  for  one  cent.  There  are  many 
other  towns  and  villages  quite  near,  and  all  acces 
sible  by  water,  *  *  *  these  advantages  cause  us  to 
pray  earnestly  that  we  may  be  permitted  to  re 
main  at  this  place." 

The  war  between  England  and  China  had  now 
begun  to  draw  towards  its  close.  The  Chinese  with 
their  junks  had  not  been  able  to  stand  against  the 
British  frigates.  Canton,  Amoy,  Ningpo,  Woo- 
sung  and  Shanghai  had  fallen  after  but  feeble 
resistance,  and  China  had  to  come  to  terms.  By 
the  new  Treaty  of  August  24,  1842,  among  many 
other  stipulations,  Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow,  Ningpo 
and  Shanghai  were  opened  to  foreign  trade, 
and  thus  it  was  that  the  new  point  selected  by 
Dr.  Boone  became  one  in  which  he  could  labor 
with  comparative  freedom. 

It  must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was 
not  necessarily  an  unmixed  blessing  for  a  messenger 
of  the  Gospel  to  have  his  way  made  easy  by  the 
guns  of  the  foreigner's  fleet.  In  fact  the  problem 
which  has  confronted  all  missionaries  to  China  has 
been,  how  to  appeal  to  a  people  while  nominally 
under  the  protection  of  soldiers,  and  when  we 
wonder  about  the  progress,  or  lack  of  progress  of 
the  Gospel  in  that  land  we  should  never  forget  that 


The  Beginnings  29 

it  was  under  the  chaperonage  of  England's  navy 
that  Boone  went  to  work. 

Thus  a  new  station  was  established.  Whether 
Dr.  Boone  ever  regarded  this  move  as  final  it  is 
not  possible  to  say.  Apparently  the  Foreign  Com 
mittee  at  home  did.  References  to  Amoy  at  this 
time  in  The  Spirit  of  Missions  speak  of  it  as  if  it 
were  the  long  sought  opening.  But  this  was  not 
to  be.  As  it  turned  out,  Dr.  Boone  remained  there 
only  a  year,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  left  for 
America,  and  when  he  returned,  it  was  not  to  Amoy 
that  he  went.  But  that  is  another  story. 

Boone  on  Furlough  in  America.  Early  in  their 
stay  at  Ku-lang-su  Mrs.  Boone  died.  The  loss  was 
a  great  blow  to  the  Mission.  The  calibre  of  the 
woman  can  be  guessed  at  by  reading  her  dying 
words : 

"If  there  is  a  mercy  in  life  for  which  I  feel  thank 
ful  it  is  that  God  has  called  me  to  be  a  missionary." 

Perhaps  to  escape  from  unhappy  reminders,  and 
perhaps  because  his  sorrow  made  him  restless, 
Boone,  shortly  after  his  wife's  death,  moved  the 
Mission  across  to  Amoy  proper.  But  this  was  an 
even  more  temporary  arrangement,  and,  in  1843, 
the  lonely  man  returned  to  America.  He  did  this 
for  two  reasons.  The  first  to  carry  out  his  wife's 
wishes  of  taking  their  children  home  to  be  edu 
cated  ;  the  second  to  appeal  personally  for  workers 
and  help. 

With  the  return  of  Dr.  Boone  to  America  we 
come  to  the  end  of  the  experimental  stage  of  the 


3O  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Church's  work  in  China.  And  what  a  period  of 
trial  it  was,  more  specially  to  those  at  home!  Ten 
years  of  imploring  an  inappreciative  Church — ten 
years  of  questioning  as  to  whether  the  mission 
should  be  continued  or  abandoned — ten  years  of 
close  financiering — and  as  a  result,  what?  No  sta 
tion,  no  buildings,  no  property.  The  sum  total  of 
it  all  was  one  man  with  an  ability  to  speak  the 
Amoy  dialect.  And  this  at  the  cost  of  the  lives 
of  two  women  and  the  health  of  two  men.  Was 
it  worth  it  all?  Could  the  Church  be  persuaded 
to  take  it  up  again?  Did  she  not  have  the  right 
to  assert  that  the  whole  adventure  had  been  a  wild 
mistake?  The  sequel  will  answer  these  questions. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  AT  SHANGHAI 


VI 

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CHAPTER  II 
THE  BEGINNINGS  AT  SHANGHAI 

During  the  last  year  of  his  residence  in  the  Orient 
Dr.  Boone  had  continually  flung  back  to  the  Church 
the  question :  "When  shall  I  welcome  my  coad 
jutors?"  He  saw  that  until  there  were  more  men 
in  the  field  little  could  be  looked  for.  More  signifi 
cant  than  this,  before  Boone  had  gone  out  Lock- 
wood  had  appealed  for  a  Bishop,  asserting  that 
nothing  permanent  could  be  done  till  the  mission 
had  a  head.  As  we  now  come  to  the  events  which 
followed  upon  Dr.  Boone's  return  to  America,  we 
shall  see  how  both  of  these  demands  were  met. 
And  more,  as  we  read  of  what  follows,  we  shall 
perhaps  be  set  to  wondering  whether  or  not  the 
failure  of  the  first  attempt  to  establish  work  in 
China  was  not  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Church  did 
not  begin  in  a  large  enough  way.  Little  ventured, 
little  gained.  The  Church  had  been  very  timid. 
Sometimes  it  is  better  to  do  nothing  than  to  do 
too  little.  And  yet  it  is  not  fair  for  us  to  find  fault 
with  our  predecessors.  God  knows  they  did  as 
much  in  proportion  to  their  means  as  we  do  in 
proportion  to  ours. 

Boone's  Triumphal  Tour.  Boone  arrived  in 
America  some  months  before  the  General  Con 
vention  which  was  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  in 

33 


34  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

1844.  He  had  travelled  about  the  States  con 
siderably,  and  wherever  he  went  received  enthu 
siastic  welcomes.  Now  this  place  would  subscribe 
$100,  now  that  $200;  now  this  man  would  enquire 
as  to  the  possibility  of  his  going  back  with  Boone, 
and  now  that  woman  would  take  up  the  matter.  He 
wrote  to  the  Foreign  Committee  in  August,  1844: 

"I  have  great  cause  for  gratitude  to  God  for  the 
interest  manifested  in  the  Mission  to  China  at  that 
place  [Beaufort,  South  Carolina],  and  indeed  at 
every  place  visited  during  the  tour  from  which  I 
have  just  returned. 

"The  good  people  of  Beaufort  gave  me  for  the 
Mission,  during  the  delightful  week  I  was  permitted 
to  spend  with  them,  in  cash,  $551.25,  and  pledges  for 
$6,750;  that  is,  they  promise  to  support  twenty- 
seven  children  in  our  schools  for  ten  years,  at  the 
rate  of  $25  a  year  for  each  child,  which  is  $675  per 
annum  for  that  length  of  time.  I  received  a  promise 
for  the  support  of  four  children  from  one  family; 
four  persons  pledge  themselves  for  the  support  of 
two  children  each ;  the  Sunday  School  supports  two, 
the  boys  a  boy,  and  the  girls  a  Chinese  girl ;  and  the 
remaining  thirteen  are  to  be  supported  by  persons 
who  pledge  themselves  for  $25  a  year.  When  the 
size  of  this  parish  is  taken  into  the  account,  this 
must  be  reckoned  large-hearted  Christian  liberality 
in  behalf  of  the  Heathen." 

Added  to  these  large  outpourings  of  money  from 
the  South — and  it  must  be  said  that  no  part  of 
the  Church  responded  quite  so  heartily  in  proper- 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  35 

tion  to  its  means  as  did  the  South — there  came  a 
splendid  response  from  the  North.  In  particular 
from  a  steadfast  friend  came  what  was  perhaps  the 
most  needed  of  all  promises — a  promise  to  furnish 
one-half  of  the  money  needed  to  maintain  three  un 
married  missionaries  in  China  for  three  years.  What 
a  Te  Deum  the  hard  pressed  Foreign  Committee 
must  have  sung  when  it  received  this  intelligence, 
and  with  what  increased  confidence  they  must  have 
gone  forward  seeking  for  volunteers.  "We  have  the 
means,"  they  joyfully  acclaimed,  "and  now  may  God 
send  us  the  men !" 

New  Volunteers.  Boone  meantime  had  not  been 
soliciting  money  only.  He  had  been  equally  emphatic  in 
proclaiming  the  need  for  men.  Seldom  has  the  Church 
seen  a  better  man-beggar.  As  a  result  of  his  men 
dicancy,  three  clergymen,  Henry  W.  Woods,  Richardson 
Graham  and  Edward  W.  Syle,  all  of  the  Diocese 
of  Virginia,  came  forward  saying  they  were  ready 
to  go  back  with  him.  In  addition  to  these,  Miss 
Gillett  of  New  York  (who  has  the  honor  of  being 
the  first  single  woman  ever  appointed  by  any  board 
to  China),  Miss  Jones  of  Mobile,  and  Miss  Morse 
of  Boston  volunteered  and  received  along  with 
the  clergy  appointments  to  the  China  staff.  All  in 
all,  for  both  Woods  and  Graham  were  married  men 
and  Dr.  Boone  had  married  again,  this  brought  the 
number  up  to  ten.  A  goodly  company  this,  and 
those  who  had  been  praying  for  the  enterprise  must 
indeed  have  felt  that  their  prayers  had  been  an 
swered. 


36  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

As  yet,  however,  the  Mission  lacked  the  chief 
requisite  for  success,  the  one  for  which  Mr.  Lock- 
wood  had  appealed,  a  head.  The  Foreign  Com 
mittee  realized  this  fully  however,  and  in  their 
report  of  October  1st,  1844,  had  said :  "The  Com 
mittee  hopes  that  this  Mission  may  not  be  permit 
ted  to  depart  without  a  Bishop  at  its  head."  These 
gentlemen  knew  the  futility  of  resolutions  and  ex 
pressions  of  opinions  and  did  not  confine  themselves 
to  this  innocuous  statement.  They  wrote  letters 
and  plead  their  cause  incessantly  so  that  it  came 
to  pass  that  the  House  of  Bishops,  which  soon  as 
sembled,  appointed  Boone  as  Missionary  Bishop 
to  China. 

Election  of  Boone.  The  General  Convention  of 
1844,  and  particularly  the  upper  House,  found  itself 
confronted  by  questions  of  large  importance.  Relatively 
speaking  they  were  in  the  same  position  that  our  gov 
ernment  was  in  a  few  years  ago  when  it  was  compelled 
to  enter  into  the  concert  of  European  powers.  Serene 
national  isolation  had  become  a  thing  of  the  past.  If 
the  Church  was  to  act  as  those  interested  in  China  de 
sired,  they  would  have  to  do  some  most  extraor 
dinary  things.  Many  were  the  questions  and  deep 
the  doubt  as  to  whether  it  was  right  to  make  a 
Bishop  for  territory  outside  the  Union.  Would  it 
not  be  jingo  expansionism?  After  much  heart- 
searching  and  questionings  as  to  whether  the 
Church  should  take  so  bold  a  step,  it  was  decided 
to  cross  the  Rubicon.  Missionary  Bishops  were 
elected  for  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  for  the  "do- 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  37 

minions  and  dependencies  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey," 
and  for  "Amoy  and  other  parts  of  the  Chinese  Em 
pire  as  th^  Board  of  Missions  may  hereafter  desig 
nate."  To  these  positions  were  elected  Alexander 
Glennie,  Horatio  Southgate  and  our  Dr.  Boone. 

In  these  days  it  is  hard  to  realize,  impossible  prob 
ably,  how  great  a  commotion  this  act  created.  For 
this  young  Church  still  in  its  infancy  to  send  out 
Bishops  to  lands  not  under  the  flag  was  indeed  a 
daring  act.  To  be  sure  it  had  set  the  world  an  ex 
ample  some  nine  years  before  and  reverted  to  the 
Apostolic  precedent  by  sending  out  Bishops  to  blaze 
the  way  in  the  Western  States  and  Territories, 
but  to  send  Bishops  to  foreign  lands,  that  was  in 
deed  a  new  thing.  So  perturbed  and  astounded  at 
their  own  audacity  were  the  fathers  in  God  that 
they  proceeded  at  once  to  send  along  with  their 
commission  to  Boone  a  lengthy,  and  to  be  honest 
one  must  say  in  parts  very  prosy,  letter  of  instruc 
tions.  In  it  the  purpose  of  the  Episcopate  was  duly 
laid  down,  and  with  great  care  it  was  explained 
exactly  why  this  thing  had  been  done. 

One  passage  in  these  instructions  is  worthy  of 
quotation  as  it  reveals  the  origin  of  that  splendid 
policy  which  has  been  pursued  so  closely  by  our 
Church  in  foreign  lands: 

"So  vast  is  the  population  of  the  Empire;  so 
great  the  difficulty  of  acquiring  its  language;  so 
small  the  number  of  Missionaries  or  teachers  that 
we  can  send  out  from  this  country;  and  so  heavy 
the  expense  at  which  they  are  to  be  maintained, 


38  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

that  there  is  an  evident  and  imperative  necessity 
for  taking  immediate  steps  for  rearing  in  the  short 
est  space  of  time  a  band  of  Christian  teachers  for 
schools;  a  body  of  able  translators,  and  above  all, 
an  efficient  native  ministry. 

"The  training  of  children  will,  therefore,  form  a 
very  important  part  of  your  labors,  and  is  an  object 
well  worthy  the  attention  of  all." 

And  again  it  is  interesting  to  see  that  the  fathers 
in  God  fully  realized  the  decisiveness  of  their  act. 
They  wrote : 

"We  feel  that  our  present  undertaking  will  form 
an  important  epoch  in  the  Missionary  history  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  We  are  sending  out  the  first  com 
pletely  organized  Mission  to  Heathen  lands  since 
the  early  ages  of  the  Church." 

And  so  in  this  act  our  Church  took  upon  its 
shoulders  the  full  weight  of  the  Apostolic  burden. 
From  this  time  forward  hers  it  became  to  carry  the 
cares  of  many  peoples.  No  longer  was  she  to  be 
a  local  Church  with  a  little  outlook,  but  rather  an 
universal  Church,  whose  prayers  would  arise  in  all 
languages,  and  whose  Bishops  would  minister  to 
all  colors  and  kinds. 

As  has  been  said,  Boone  was  elected  for  China. 
This  was,  of  course,  the  only  thing  to  do,  and  sub 
sequent  experience  more  than  justified  the  choice. 
One  fact  of  interest  is  that  he  was  not  elected  Bishop 
of  Amoy  specifically.  At  the  beginning  of  the  in 
structions  given  him  came  this  passage  which  re- 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  39 

vealed  the  fact  that  discussion  had  been  carried  on 
in  the  Convention  as  to  whether  Amoy  were  really 
the  best  place  for  the  new  mission  to  begin : 

"After  their  arrival  at  that  place  [Canton],  the 
Missionary  Bishop  is  requested  to  make  arrange 
ments  for  a  passage  to  Amoy;  or  in  case  he  shall 
find  it  practicable  and  expedient  after  his  arrival  in 
China,  it  is  recommended  to  him  to  make  Shanghai, 
the  most  northern  port  in  the  Empire  open  to  for 
eigners,  the  station  for  present  Missionary  opera 
tions." 

Boone  and  His  Party  Sail.  On  the  evening  of  Sun 
day,  December  8th,  (when  did  that  miserable  prac 
tice  begin  of  relegating  missionary  services  to  the 
evening,)  a  farewell  service  for  the  China  band  was 
held  in  St.  George's  Church,  New  York.  Though 
many  Bishops  attended,  one  is  inclined  to  conclude 
that  the  same  enthusiasm  did  not  pervade  this  gathering 
as  did  those  attended  by  Boone  in  South  Carolina 
or  Massachusetts,  since  the  offering  only  amounted 
to  a  little  over  $300.  However  that  may  be,  it  was 
a  whole-hearted  send-off,  and  with  tears  many  and 
fears  many  and  endless  God-be-with-yous  ringing 
in  their  ears,  the  little  company  sailed  on  the  14th 
in  the  good  ship  "Horatio/* 

It  was  a  long  journey  but  a  restful  one.  Several 
letters  were  sent  back  by  means  of  such  vessels  as 
were  passed  at  sea,  (that  being  the  custom  of  those 
days  when  a  ship  was  not  afraid  of  losing  a  couple 
of  hours  by  stopping  in  midocean,)  and  these  told 
of  some  seasickness  and  much  study  of  the  Chinese 


4O          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

language.  One  wonders  which  was  the  worst  for 
the  beginners.  At  length  on  the  24th  of  April 
Hong  Kong  was  reached,  and  after  a  short  stay 
there  the  party  proceeded  to  Shanghai,  the  possi 
bilities  of  which  place  had  been  vividly  laid  before 
Boone  by  the  Church  Missionary  Society  agent, 
Reverend  G.  Smith,  who  had  made  for  his  Society 
an  examination  of  all  possible  points. 

Shanghai  at  Last.  The  17th  of  June,  1845,  should 
be  a  red  letter  day  in  the  history  of  our  work  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Yangtse,  for  it  was  then  that  the  small 
party  reached  the  city  which  has  since  been  the 
headquarters  of  our  work,  Shanghai. 

What  days  of  bewilderment  must  have  followed ! 
The  strange  looking  town,  the  babel  of  incompre 
hensible  tongues,  the  filthy  streets,  the  unspeak 
able  smells,  the  utter  strangeness  of  it  all !  And 
then  along  with  this  came  the  feeling  that  they 
were  to  live  in  the  midst  of  all  this  for — perhaps 
the  rest  of  their  lives. 

It  was  a  very  different  thing  to  take  up  residence 
in  China  in  those  days  from  what  it  is  now.  No 
steamships  or  cables  or  posts  bound  the  mission 
ary  to  the  home  land.  Today  if  a  Bishop  needs  to 
he  can  communicate  with  the  Board  of  Missions 
and  gret  an  answer  within  twenty-four  hours.  Then 
it  meant  anywhere  from  five  to  seven  months  to 
do  this.  Now,  there  are  hospitals  and  doctors  and 
railroads,  but  then  in  illness  or  trouble  there  was 
practically  nobody  or  no  thing  to  turn  to.  Surely 
those  first  days  in  Shanghai  must  have  been  days 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  41 

of  wonderment  and  consternation  to  the  nine  dis 
ciples  of  the  Lord.1 

It  would  be  very  dry  reading  if  one  proceeded 
to  narrate  in  their  correct  order  the  events  which 
followed ;  if  one  told  of  all  the  comings  and  goings, 
of  the  successes  and  failures,  of  the  steps  forward 
and  then  backward.  The  tide  was  always  on  the 
flood  of  course,  but  at  times  it  looked  as  if  it  had 
started  to  ebb.  Men  would  come  out  full  of  en 
thusiasm,  and  leave,  for  one  reason  or  another,  at 
the  end  of  a  short  time.  Such,  for  example,  as 
the  retirement  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Woods,  (of  the 
original  party,)  on  account  of  ill  health  after  only 
eighteen  months,  or  of  the  defection  of  Dr.  Fish, 
who  came  out  in  '55  to  minister  to  the  bodies  of  the 
ignorant  sufferers  and  then  left  in  '56  to  take  secular 
work  in  Shanghai. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  though,  this  coming  and  going 
of  the  Missionaries  was  not  so  bad  then  as  it  is 
now.  The  average  length  of  service  of  one  of  our 
missionaries  in  China  between  '35  and  '85  was  about 
six  and  one-half  years,  while  since  '86  they  have 
only  averaged  three  and  one-half  years.  This  is 
due  in  the  first  place  to  the  fact  that  many  of  late 
years  have  broken  down  or  died  shortly  after  arrival, 
and  in  the  second  place  to  the  large  increase  in  num 
bers  which  always  pulls  down  averages.  Still,  when 
communication  with  America  was  so  difficult,  and 

1  For  a  list  of  all  the  protestant  mission  stations  in  China  at 
this  tirye  see  The  Spirit  of  Missions,  Vol.  XII,  page  319. 


42  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

the  numbers  so  small,  it  must  have  been  trying  in 
deed  to  see  one's  brethren  and  sisters  leave  after 
but  a  short  stay.  When  workers  are  plenty  one 
can  endure  the  loss  of  one  or  two  every  now  and 
then,  but  in  those  days  there  were  perilously  few, 
and  the  few  who  were  there  had  before  them  the 
constant  dread  of  such  depletion  as  to  compel  the 
abandonment  of  the  work. 

But  all  growth  is  of  this  kind,  if  it  be  sure.  Things 
that  forge  ahead  at  the  beginning  without  ever 
so  much  as  a  hitch  seem  always  to  come  to  an 
untimely  end.  This  gives  us  courage  when  we  see 
here  at  home  the  alarming  rapidity  with  which 
certain  new  sects  have  grown.  We  are  never 
alarmed  by  things  which  move  inordinately  fast. 
Experience  has  taught  us  that  imperishable  things 
grow  slowly,  that  the  law  of  life  is  per  aspera  ad 
astra.  Therefore,  when  we  see  the  Church  in  China 
moving  with  painful  steps  and  slow  we  are  not 
concerned,  recognizing  in  such  progress  the  symp 
toms  and  signs  of  enduring  success. 

Instead,  then,  of  going  minutely  into  the  details 
of  the  work  it  will  be  better  to  limit  the  narrative 
to  certain  broad  features  as  they  center  around 
certain  outstanding  facts  and  personalities. 

The  City  of  Shanghai.  The  place  chosen  for  the 
first  sowing  of  seed  was  a  city  as  yet  little  known  to 
the  occidental  world.  A  traveller  of  those  days 
described  his  arrival  there  as  follows : 

"The  entrance  of  the  great  river  Yangtse  is 
rather  difficult,  especially  to  vessels  drawing  much 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  43 

water.  So  much  earth  is  brought  down  by  this 
immense  stream,  and  deposited  in  the  sea,  that  the 
water  is  quite  shallow  for  many  miles  and  a  vessel 
is  in  danger  of  running  aground  long  before  the  land 
is  seen.  The  coasts  of  China  in  this  latitude  are 
low,  and  perfectly  level,  and  the  land  can  scarcely 
be  seen  more  than  ten  miles  off.  The  strength  of 
the  tides  is  also  very  great,  and  several  vessels  have 
already  been  lost  on  the  sands  and  rocks  off  the 
entrance  of  the  river.  Until  lighthouses  are  erected, 
and  buoys  properly  placed,  more  than  ordinary  cau 
tion  will  be  required  of  the  officers  of  vessels  visiting 
Shanghai. 

"After  entering  the  river,  (only  the  southern  bank 
of  which  is  seen,  on  account  of  its  great  width,)  the 
course  is  northwest  to  Woosung.  Entering  the 
Woosung  river,  the  course  is  southwest,  about  four 
teen  miles  to  Shanghai. 

"The  whole  country  for  many  miles  around  the 
city  is  a  perfect  plain,  having  only  sufficient  eleva 
tion  and  depression  to  carry  off  the  water.  There  is 
not  a  single  hill  within  twenty  miles  of  Shanghai, 
which,  of  course,  renders  the  appearance  of  the 
country  uninteresting.  The  soil,  however,  is  rich 
and  productive,  and,  excepting  the  space  occupied 
by  the  graves,  is  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
There  are  no  stones,  nor  even  small  pebbles,  for  in 
a  trip  of  some  twenty  miles  along  the  Woosung 
river,  not  a  stone  was  to  be  seen,  except  such  as 
had  been  brought  from  a  distance.  Farm-houses 
and  small  villages  dot  the  country  in  every  direction, 


44  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

and  clumps  of  bamboos,  with  orchards  of  peaches 
and  plum  trees,  and  willows  by  the  water-courses, 
relieve  the  sameness  of  the  ground. 

"The  city  of  Shanghai  is  pleasantly  situated  at 
the  junction  of  the  Woosung  and  Hwangpoo  rivers. 
It  is  of  a  circular  form,  surrounded  by  walls  about 
fifteen  feet  high,  and  nearly  four  miles  in  circumfer 
ence.  The  suburbs  near  the  rivers  are  thickly 
inhabited,  and  the  population  is  estimated  at  about 
two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  *  *  *  By  the 
Woosung  river  it  is  connected  with  the  city  of  Soo- 
chow,  the  capital  of  the  province,  and  one  of  the 
most  luxurious  and  wealthy  in  the  Empire — and 
also  with  the  Grand  Canal  which  reaches  to  Pekin. 
Hence  its  situation  is  one  of  great  importance,  and 
its  trade  is  immense.  Rows  of  junks  are  moored  for 
nearly  two  miles  along  the  bank  of  the  Hwangpoo, 
on  the  east  of  the  city,  and  vessels  are  constantly 
arriving  and  departing.  Already  it  is  attracting  a 
large  share  of  foreign  commerce,  and  many  suppose 
that  it  will  soon  rival,  if  not  surpass  Canton,  as  a 
place  for  foreign  trade.  Sixty-five  foreign  vessels 
have  already  entered  the  port,  though  it  is  but  a 
year  and  a  half  since  business  commenced  to  be  done 
there.  The  great  tea  and  silk  districts  of  China  are 
nearer  to  Shanghai  than  to  Canton,  and  if  proper 
encouragement  be  held  out,  a  large  part  of  those 
articles  which  were  formerly  carried  at  great  expense 
to  the  latter  place,  will  find  their  way  either  to 
Shanghai  or  Ningpo." 

First  Impressions.    The  treatment  experienced  by 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  45 

the  new  arrivals  was  probably  better  than  they  would 
have  received  in  any  other  part  of  China  at  that  time. 
The  inhabitants  were,  all  things  considered,  rather  well 
disposed.  Perhaps  it  was  the  "eye  for  business," 
which  put  a  little  "foreign  sense"  into  their  heads, 
at  all  events  the  good  Bishop  and  his  flock  were 
apparently  allowed  to  move  about  without  danger. 
One  contemporary  observer  wrote : 

"We  walked  quietly  to  the  English  Consulate  in 
the  heart  of  the  city,  where  Divine  Service  was 
held,  on  the  Sabbath,  *  *  *  and  excepting  a  few  dogs 
which  had  not  yet  become  reconciled  to  the  pres 
ence  of  foreigners  (dogs  always  go  by  smell)  none 
moved  his  tongue  against  us." 

The  indifference  of  the  natives  to  foreigners  was 
due  to  their  lack  of  inquisitiveness.  They  were 
sophisticated  enough,  but  according  to  our  workers 
were  unusually  self  contained  and  diffident.  Our 
workers  were  not  the  first  strangers  to  invade  their 
domain.  The  Roman  Catholics  had  already  begun 
work  and  obtained  quite  a  foothold  in  Shanghai,  and 
several  of  their  priests  were  stationed  there.  In 
addition  to  these  Italians,  the  London  Missionary 
Society  had  a  station  in  the  city  presided  over 
by  two  missionaries,  Dr.  Lockhart,  a  physician, 
whose  presence  meant  much  to  the  new  comers, 
and  Dr.  Medhurst,  whom  we  remember  as  the 
father-in-law  of  our  Mr.  Lockwood.  It  was,  by  the 
way,  due  to  the  hospitality  of  these  gentlemen  that 
our  party  was  made  comfortable  on  their  arrival.  Nor 
were  these  the  only  foreigners.  At  least  a  hundred 


46  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

English  lived  there  and  a  splendid  God-fearing  lot 
they  seem  to  have  been.  One  writer  asserts  that 
Shanghai  at  this  period  could  boast  of  being  the 
only  Treaty  port  in  the  Orient  where  merchants 
stopped  work  on  Sunday. 

The  Shanghainese.  An  obvious  question  is: 
What  was  the  religious  condition  of  these  folk 
whom  Boone  and  his  companions  had  come  to  aid. 
A  letter  written  at  this  time  partially  answers  the 
question : 

"Wherever  we  walk  through  the  city  we  meet 
the  priests  of  Buddha,  and  see  spacious  temples 
dedicated  to  him,  all,  of  course,  supported  by  the 
people;  and  yet  they  seem  to  care  not  a  straw 
either  for  priests,  temples  or  idols.  The  most  bitter 
reproach  they  can  bestow  on  an  idle  young  man 
is  to  tell  him  he  is  fit  for  nothing  but  to  be  a  priest; 
and  when  we  have  seen  religious  ceremonies  per 
formed,  there  was  not  the  least  semblance  of  de 
votion  in  either  priest  or  people.  Their  only  ob 
jects  of  reverence  seem  to  be  their  ancestors  and 
dead  friends,  and  these,  certainly,  have  a  very  strong 
hold  upon  them." 

For  some  time  the  only  church  building  in  which 
worship  of  the  Anglican  order  was  held  was  the 
Consulate  Chapel.  Bishop  Boone  administered  the 
Communion  and  held  services  in  his  own  room. 
Dr.  Medhurst  built  a  chapel  in  the  mid-forties  but 
our  first  church  was  not  to  be  completed  until  Epiph 
any,  1850.  One  can  well  imagine  how  the  workers 
looked  forward  to  the  day  when  they  could  hold 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  47 

Divine  service  without  the  nuisance  of  a  preliminary 
removal  of  tables  and  bric-a-brac  in  order  to  make 
ready  a  room.  Who  ever  really  enjoyed  services 
in  a  sitting  room? 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  not  very  much  evangelistic 
work  could  have  been  done  as  yet  even  had  a 
church  been  built,  since  none  could  speak  the 
language  well  enough  to  conduct  a  service.  It  was 
not  until  '46  that  the  Bishop  could,  his  first  attempt 
being  at  the  Baptism  of  Wong  Kong  Chai, — of 
whom  more  presently.  A  long  road  had  to  be 
travelled  before  any  of  the  workers  could  be  suffi 
ciently  versed  in  Chinese  to  do  much  active  teaching 
or  preaching.  A  rather  pitiable  letter  was  written 
home  by  one  of  them  in  reply  to  a  request  for 
more  vivid  and  attractive  accounts  of  their  doings. 
He  said  that  as  yet  they  did  little  but  study.  One 
might  sum  up  his  plea  by  paraphrasing  Mark 
Twain's  description  of  the  diary  he  kept  as  a  boy, 
in  which  "got  up,  dressed,  went  to  bed"  followed 
monotonously  from  day  to  day.  Our  missionaries' 
diaries  would  have  read  "got  up,  dressed,  studied 
Chinese,  went  to  bed." 

Wong  Kong  Chai  and  the  Evangelistic  Problem. 
And  now  about  Wong  Kong  Chai.  He  was  a 
young  man  whom  the  Bishop  had  taken  under  his 
wing  in  the  Amoy  days,  and  whom  he  had  taken 
with  him  (as  "Exhibit  A"  one  would  suppose)  on 
his  first  trip  home.  The  story  of  his  conversion, 
and  of  the  length  of  time  which  it  took,  form  an 


48  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

excellent  introduction  to  the  subject  of  evangelistic 
work  in  the  days  of  Boone. 

The  Bishop,  as  has  been  said,  had  taken  Wong 
to  America  with  him.  They  had  been  close  com 
panions  for  months,  and  Wong  had  come  to  idolize 
the  man  of  God.  For  three  full  years  he  was  thus 
with  or  near  his  ideal,  and  yet  at  the  end  of  that 
time,  when  circumstances  compelled  him  to  go 
home  to  his  family,  he  neither  asked  for  baptism 
nor  gave  any  evidence  of  having  been  won  away 
from  the  belief  of  his  forebears.  Is  not  this  extraor 
dinary?  And  does  it  not  reveal  to  us  the  prodigious 
proportions  of  the  task  which  confronted  Boone 
and  his  helpers?  If  years  of  effort  and  affection 
had  failed  to  win  Wong,  how  could  the  turning  of 
the  hearts  of  four  hundred  unknown  millions  be 
accomplished? 

Wrhat,  then,  one  wants  to  know  is,  why  was 
Wong  Kong  Chai  so  slow  to  hearken  to  the  words 
of  Life?  If  this  can  be  understood  it  will  be  less 
hard  to  see  why  all  Chinamen  are  slow  to  attend, 
and  why,  after  seventy  years  of  effort,  our  con 
verts  are  counted  by  the  hundreds  rather  than  by 
the  tens  of  thousands. 

The  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  singular 
conservatism  of  the  Orientals, — so  well  typified  in 
Wong.  To  have  broken  with  China's  past  would 
have  been  a  fearfully  serious  act.  Christians,  with 
their  faces  set  always  towards  the  future,  believing 
as  they  do  in  a  Gospel  of  change — on  from  glory 
on  to  glory — can  alter  their  opinions  on  many  mat- 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  49 

ters  without  violating  their  theory  of  life.  Of  the 
Chinaman  this  cannot  be  said.  Instead  of  viewing 
life  as  a  chance  to  make  the  world  better — to  im 
prove  on  the  past — he  sees  in  it  a  chance  to  prevent 
any  change,  to  do  all  he  can  to  prevent  things 
from  becoming  different  from  what  they  were  in 
the  days  of  old.  In  fact,  to  him  the  whole  trouble 
with  the  world  is  that  it  has  changed,  and  is  no 
longer  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Yao  and  Shun. 
The  best  that  the  individual  can  do  is  to  oppose 
any  further  change,  and  thus  to  keep  the  world 
from  going  further  down  hill. 

To  Wong,  then,  the  best  had  been.  His  whole 
conception  of  values  was  one  according  to  which 
change  in  itself  was  harmful  for  the  simple  reason 
that  it  would  remove  the  already  too  much  altered 
world  further  away  from  the  ideal  condition  in 
which  it  once  was.  In  connection  with  this  one 
can  see  how  catastrophic  the  recent  political  revo 
lution  has  been,  and  incidentally  how  incompatible 
with  the  Confucian  point  of  view  a  republic  is, 
since  the  very  genius  of  a  republic  lies  in  its  being 
an  arrangement  whereby,  through  periodic  changes 
of  laws  and  officers,  a  more  and  more  satisfactory 
government  may  finally  be  obtained.  The  great  Shi 
Huang  Ti,  China's  first  Emperor,  who  lived  about 
two  hundred  years  before  Christ,  found  that  all  his 
plans  were  defeated  by  this  same  spirit  of  conser 
vatism.  He  wanted  to  change  things,  and  he  did 
change  them  in  many  ways.  He  built  the  Great  Wall 
and  organized  a  new  system  of  government,  but  at 


50  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

every  turn  he  found  that  the  Confucian  precepts 
against  change  thwarted  him.  So  incensed  did  he  be 
come  with  the  change-nothing  attitude  of  his  people 
that  he  tried  to  burn  up  all  the  books  in  which  this 
suffocating  doctrine  had  been  taught.  But  Shi 
Huang  Ti  was  not  great  enough  to  oust  Confucius, 
It  has  remained  for  The  King  of  Glory  to  do  this. 
The  story  of  the  great  Tsin  conqueror  is  the  most 
suggestive  one  that  can  be  found.  It  illustrates 
right  royally  the  inveterate  conservatism  of  the 
people. 

Remembering  this  point  of  view,  ground  into 
him  by  the  teachings  of  ages,  one  can  see  the  spirit 
which  dominated  Wong  and  kept  him  from  turn 
ing  to  Christ.  Had  he  been  anything  but  a  China 
man  one  is  led  to  believe  he  would  have  done  so 
long  before  he  actually  did.  Further,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  it  was  this  spirit  of  hyper-con 
servatism  which  dominated  his  family  and  made 
ostracism  and  persecution  the  inevitable  outcome 
of  his  making  any  important  change  in  his  life. 

It  is  quite  impossible  for  us  to  realize  the  signifi 
cance  of  all  this  in  the  eyes  of  those  to  whom  our 
missionaries  preached,  and  to  understand  how  great 
was  the  sacrifice  which  they  asked  converts  to 
make.  It  was  no  mere  matter  of  being  baptized. 
It  was  a  matter  of  giving  up  family  and  friends 
and  honor!  Aye  more,  of  outraging  the  feelings  of 
one's  ancestors;  of  insulting  China's  incomparable 
past! 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  51 

It  was  then  a  desperately  serious  matter  to  poor 
Wong,  this  question  of  whether  or  not  he  should 
adopt  the  faith  of  his  friend  and  benefactor.  One 
cannot  wonder  that  he  did  more  than  hesitate,  that 
he  even  left  Dr.  Boone  shortly  after  his  return  from 
America  in  order  to  return — reluctantly  to  be  sure 
— to  his  parents  at  Amoy. 

His  day  of  deliverance,  however,  was  not  long 
in  coming.  His  parents  were  gathered  to  their  an 
cestors  during  one  of  the  numerous  epidemics  which 
visited  the  land,  and  being  left  alone  he  went  post 
haste  to  Shanghai.  There  he  joined  the  Boones, 
and  after  some  time,  so  greatly  did  he  feel  the  call 
of  the  Master,  that,  defying  the  customs  and  con 
ventions  of  the  centuries,  he  asked  for  holy  bap 
tism.  This,  as  we  have  said,  was  administered  in 
Easter,  1846,  a  day  of  great  moment  in  the  history 
of  our  work.  Of  his  subsequent  career  we  have 
not  the  space  to  speak.  Suffice  it  to  say  he  was 
ordained  priest  in  1863,  and  became  an  honored 
leader  in  the  Church. 

The  story  of  Wong  Kong  Chai  has  been  related 
at  such  length  because  it  illustrates  the  problem 
which  confronted  the  youthful  Church.  Things 
have  changed  in  China  since  those  days  beyond 
belief — change  is  no  longer  anathema.  The  adop 
tion,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  of  a  new  form  of 
government,  is  in  itself  a  change  of  such  pro 
portions,  and  does  so  definitely  constitute  a  nega 
tion  of  the  whole  Confucian  theory,  that  lesser 
changes  such  as  a  single  individual's  changing  his 


52  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

faith  are  insignificant.  But  in  the  forties,  and  up 
until  recent  days,  turning  away  from  the  faith  of 
one's  fathers  in  China  meant  more  than  we  can 
realize. 

Such  was  the  task  before  the  infant  Church,  and 
bravely  did  it  set  to  work.  As  has  been  said  the 
missionaries  were  content  at  first  to  worship  at  the 
Consulate  Chapel,  and  in  their  own  rooms.  "Parish 
work"  was,  of  course,  impossible  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  there  were  no  parishioners.  How  to  get 
this  necessary  item  was  the  problem,  and,  heeding 
the  instructions  given  him  by  the  Board,  the  Bishop 
started  out  to  teach  the  young. 

Educational  Beginnings.  One  can  not  but  feel 
that  the  work  in  Shanghai  was  begun  more  scien 
tifically  than  in  many  places  here  at  home.  How 
sadly  have  we  neglected  the  axiom  that  the  Church 
depends  for  its  strength  upon  the  training  of  the 
young. 

"I  have  determined,"  wrote  Boone  in  '46,  "to 
place  Sunday  Schools  first  and  children  next."  Fol 
lowing  up  this  determination  he  organized  a  boys' 
school.  The  ladies  of  course  thought  that  he  should 
have  started  with  a  girls'  school.  In  how  many  of 
the  dioceses  in  America  have  there  been  heart 
searchings  over  this  dilemma?  Which  shall  come 
first,  a  boys'  school  or  a  "female  institute" — as 
they  used  ponderously  to  call  them.  At  all  events, 
Boone  believed  in  beginning  with  the  boys,  and 
started  to  transform  a  warehouse  at  the  back  of 
his  dwelling  into  an  institution  of  learning. 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  53 

In  those  days  it  was  easier  to  get  a  school  than 
scholars,  therefore  the  first  problem  confronting 
our  educator  was  that  of  how  to  corral  students. 
The  people  were  afraid  to  leave  their  children  for 
the  necessary  length  of  time  to  the  imagined  severi 
ties  of  foreign  teachers.  Who  could  tell  what  theyj 
would  do  to  their  darlings?  They  might  be  taught 
the  wisdom  of  the  West,  but  would  that  mean  that 
they  would  also  abandon  the  superior  wisdom  of 
the  East? 

The  chief  difficulty  lay  in  the  fact  that  Boone, 
having  profited  by  experience  in  Batavia,  saw  that 
it  was  a  waste  of  his  time  and  the  Church's  money 
to  get  boys  for  a  short  time,  since,  after  giving 
them  a  good  start,  he  would  lose  them  at  the 
very  moment  when  it  became  possible  to  influence 
their  lives.  Therefore  he  decided  not  to  accept  any 
pupil  until  the  parents  had  given  satisfactory  bond 
to  vouch  for  his  remaining  in  the  school  for  ten 
full  years. 

Many  were  the  disputes  and  debates  which  this 
decision  created.  At  times  it  looked  as  if  it  would 
make  the  school  an  impossibility.  But  the  Bishop 
and  the  two  Clergymen  with  him,  Mr.  Graham  and 
Mr.  Syle,  tactfully  assisted  by  Miss  Emma  Jones 
and  Miss  Mary  Morse,  finally  persuaded  the  parents 
who  were  really  interested  to  take  the  risk  and  send 
their  boys. 

After  a  daring  few  had  taken  the  step — China 
men  being  in  this  just  like  Westerners — many  fell 
into  line,  and  soon  there  were  more  applications 


54  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

than  could  be  met.  One  incident,  however,  de 
serves  to  be  related  since  it  illustrates  the  unex 
pected  problems  which  the  workers  were  constantly 
encountering.  It  was  in  connection  with  the  case 
of  a  man  named  Foukien,  whose  sons  the  School 
wanted  as  pupils,  but  who  had  raised  an  unusual 
number  of  objections.  Finally,  after  much  bicker 
ing,  when  they  thought  that  all  had  been  arranged, 
in  walked  Wong  to  the  Bishop's  study  and  pro 
pounded  this  one  last  objection: 

"Now  that  Foukien  will  write  (»".  e.  make  the 
bond)  only  one  thing  more  he  wants  to  know." 
"What  is  that,"  asked  the  Bishop.  "Why,  he  says  that 
his  oldest  boy  is  sixteen  years  old  and  is  engaged 
to  be  married  when  he  is  twenty.  Therefore,  be 
fore  his  ten  years  have  expired,  he  will  have  two 
or  three  children.  What  will  Bishop  Boone  do  in 
that  case?"  The  Bishop  promised  that  the  progeny 
would  be  cared  for  and  the  expectant  grandfather, 
with  a  most  anxious  heart,  signed  the  dreaded 
pledge. 

Of  another  woman  who  had  been  with  difficulty 
persuaded  to  sign  the  ten-year  bond  for  her  son 
one  of  the  workers  wrote: 

"I  have  a  waiting  woman  who  is  a  widow,  and 
she  had  two  little  boys  in  the  school.  The  poor 
woman  got  her  head  filled  with  fears  that  her 
children  were  to  be  transported  to  America,  and 
said  she  could  not  sign ;  however,  when  the  men 
overcame  their  scruples,  she  came  forward  too,  and, 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  55 

with  the  manner  of  a  person  who  was  signing  a 
death-warrant,  made  her  mark  on  the  paper." 

Thus,  in  the  spring  of  1846,  the  Church's  Educa 
tional  work  began  in  China.  It  remains  for  a  later 
chapter  to  tell  how  it  grew  and  grew  until  it  has 
reached  the  splendid  proportions  of  St.  John's 
at  Shanghai  and  Boone  at  Wuchang,  together  with 
the  preparatory  schools  scattered  along  the  banks 
of  the  Yangtse  from  its  mouth  to  the  trade  school 
at  Ichang. 

Miss  Emma  Jones  and  Schools  for  Girls.  Two 
names  connected  with  this  work  should  especially 
be  held  in  high  regard  and  grateful  memory. 
Miss  Emma  G.  Jones,  who  went  out  in  1845  and 
remained  until  1861,  and  Miss  Lydia  M.  Fay,  whose 
service  in  the  field  lasted  from  1851  till  her  death  in 
1878.  Many  others  there  were  who  rendered  high 
service,  but  to  one  who  reads  the  records  of  those 
days  it  would  seem  as  if  these  two  were  the  fore 
most  and  wisest  workers. 

Miss  Jones  was  one  of  the  two  teachers  in  the 
original  boys'  school,  the  opening  of  which  has  just 
been  described,  and  for  the  first  five  years  she  was 
its  superintendent.  Time  and  again  she  pleaded  for 
relief  so  that  she  might  open  a  girls'  school — the 
dream  of  her  life,  but  it  was  not  until  Miss  Morse 
came  back  from  a  long  furlough,  bringing  Miss 
Lydia  Fay  with  her,  that  Miss  Jones  was  able  to 
do  so. 

It  was  in  1851  that  educational  work  among  girls 
was  begun,  and  Miss  Jones  was  the  pioneer.  After 


56          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

her  departure  in  the  years  of  depression  which  en 
sued  when  our  States  went  to  war  with  one  another 
her  work  was  closed  down,  but  what  she  had  estab 
lished  was  not  lost  since  after  conditions  had  im 
proved  everything  was  re-established,  and  we  can 
think  of  Emma  Jones  as  the  founder  of  our  work 
for  women  in  the  Orient. 

Miss  Lydia  Fay.  The  other  woman  referred  to 
was  one  of  extraordinary  calibre.  Miss  Jones  was  a 
plodder  and  laid  the  heavy  foundation  stones.  Miss 
Fay  was  a  brilliant  originator  and  withal  one  of  the 
ablest  missionaries  we  have  ever  sent  out.  Referring  to 
the  Chinese  language  in  his  book  on  "China  and  the 
Chinese,"  Dr.  Giles,  professor  of  Chinese  in  Cam 
bridge  University,  says :  "Speaking  of  women  as 
students  of  Chinese,  there  have  been  so  far  only 
two  who  have  really  placed  themselves  in  the  front 
rank.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  add  that  both 
these  ladies  were  natives  of  America,  and  that  it 
was  rny  privilege  while  in  China  to  know  them  both. 
In  my  early  studies  of  Chinese  I  received  much 
advice  and  assistance  from  one  of  them,  the  late 
Miss  Lydia  Fay." 

For  twenty-seven  years  this  remarkable  woman 
spent  herself  in  the  Master's  service  in  China.  Only 
one  short  vacation  did  she  ever  take,  and  that  after 
twenty  years  of  work  were  behind  her.  Her  faith 
fulness,  her  skill  as  a  teacher,  her  level  head  and 
her  zeal  made  of  her  one  of  the  master  builders  of 
the  work  in  and  around  Shanghai.  Her  words 
about  prayer  have  been  often  quoted :  "I  went  to 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  57 

China  praying  continually  that  God  would  make 
me  instrumental  in  leading  one  native  youth  to 
the  ministry  of  reconciliation,"  and  she  loved  to  give 
it  as  an  evidence  of  answered  prayer  that  she  lived 
to  see  four  of  her  pupils  laboring  as  priests  among 
their  own  people,  while,  since  her  death  in  1878,  six 
more  have  been  ordained. 

Chinese  Children's  Characteristics.  And  now  a 
few  words  about  some  of  the  mental  characteristics 
of  the  children  who  attended  the  schools,  since  one 
can  not  know  much  about  a  school's  problems  until 
one  understands  something  of  those  who  attend  it. 

The  writer  once  heard  an  Oriental  tell  of  a  deep 
religious  conviction — of  a  vision  of  the  meaning 
of  life — having  come  to  him  at  the  age  of  ten.  It 
seemed  preposterous,  and  yet  in  some  way  or  other 
the  child  in  China  does  seem  to  reflect  more  ser 
iously  than  the  child  in  America.  They  are  typical 
boys  and  girls  to  be  sure,  with  all  their  pranks  and 
games,  and  yet,  to  many  of  them  come  moments  of 
more  serious  thought  than,  so  far  as  the  writer  has 
observed,  come  to  our  own  children.  Imagine,  for 
example,  an  American  child  of  ten  writing  like  this. 
The  words  are  taken  from  an  essay  sent  home  by 
Miss  Jones  as  a  specimen  of  what  her  pupils  were 
capable  of: 

"The  only  hope  which  they  cherish,  is  that  China 
may  be  enlightened,  and  turn  to  be  a  Christian 
country,  and  that  its  people  may  share  the  blessings 
which  they  themselves  enjoy.  Now  this  is  the  hope 
that  all  Christians  have,  and  shall  we,  who  are  the 


58  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

objects  of  their  hope,  waste  the  money  which  they 
subscribe  in  desiring  merely  that  we  may  get  a 
fortune  by  means  of  the  education  which  we  receive 
in  this  school,  and  make  their  ardent  desire  of  no 
effect?  We  ought  to  know  better  than  that,  after 
being  under  the  instruction  of  a  Christian  teacher 
for  years.  It  is  our  duty  to  learn  to  be  good,  and 
then  with  all  our  power  to  do  or  to  help  others  to 
do  good." 

According  to  Miss  Jones  this  was  not  an  extraor 
dinary  case.  There  were  others  quite  as  remark 
able.  Whether  it  means  that  the  Chinese  mind  ma 
tures  earlier  than  the  American,  one  hardly  dare 
say.  At  all  events,  it  shows  us  how  different  was 
the  task  which  confronted  our  pioneers  from  any 
thing  they  had  experienced  before. 

Of  the  other  peculiarities  of  the  children,  such 
as  their  great  power  of  memory,  their  studying  out 
loud,  their  devotion  to  duty  while  engaged  at  it, 
it  is  not  practicable  to  speak  here.  What  has  been 
said  has  been  merely  to  introduce  in  some  measure 
the  atmosphere  of  the  school  behind  the  Bishop's 
dwelling. 

Education  in  China.  In  those  days  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  there  were  no  schools — in  our  use  of  the 
word — in  the  land  of  Sinim.  It  was  so  difficult  to  ac 
quire  the  elements  of  learning,  i.  e.  to  learn  the  charac 
ters  well  enough  to  read  and  write,  that  by  the  time 
that  accomplishment  had  been  gained  the  students 
felt  good  and  ready  to  rest  on  their  oars.  Some 
one  has  said  that  a  Chinaman  spends  his  youth 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  59 

learning  the  characters  and  the  rest  of  his  life  trying 
to  remember  them. 

The  demand,  in  those  days,  for  Western  schools, 
was  tremendous.  It  is  perhaps  not  so  great  now. 
The  Chinese  Giant  has  awakened  and  the  whole 
educational  order  has  been  changed,  but  in  Boone's 
days  schools  of  practical  value  were  unknown.  This 
is  worth  noting  since  it  shows  not  only  how  great 
a  need  the  Church  had  undertaken  to  meet,  but 
likewise  how  violent  a  shock  to  the  natives  Miss 
Jones'  and  Miss  Morse's  modern  methods  must  have 
been.  In  fact  when  they  undertook  to  teach  ac 
cording  to  Western  methods  they  were  doing  some 
thing  quite  as  revolutionary  and  quite  as  opposed 
to  ancient  custom  as  the  clergy  were  attempting 
when  they  preached  Christ  Crucified.  This  fact 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  since  the  recent  revolution 
was  made  possible  by  the  introduction  of  Western 
learning,  and,  therefore,  we  may  say  that  in  part 
it  had  its  beginning  in  the  warehouse  behind  the 
Bishop's  residence.  Miss  Jones,  Miss  Mary  Morse, 
Miss  Fay  and  their  fellow  laborers  were  among  the 
founders  of  the  new  Chinese  Government! 

Translating  for  the  Mission.  Educational  work 
was  not  the  only  side  issue  with  the  Bishop. 
Cares  and  responsibilities  of  all  kinds  fell  upon 
him.  Almost  immediately  after  he  left  Shanghai 
he  realized  that  his  force  would  be  trying  to 
make  bricks  without  straw  until  they  possessed 
a  catechism,  a  form  of  service  and  a  New  Testament 
in  the  Shanghai  dialect.  To  these  matters  he  ac- 


60  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

cordingly  devoted  a  considerable  part  of  his  time. 
The  catechism  came  out  first,  and  next,  the  form 
of  service.  It  is  a  commentary  upon  the  spirit  of 
the  times  in  England  and  America  that  when  the 
good  Bishop  wrote  to  England  asking  the  authori 
ties  of  the  "Prayer  Book  and  Homiletical  Society" 
to  enter  into  an  agreement  with  him  whereby  the 
American  and  Anglican  workers  (the  latter  being 
represented  by  Mr.  McClatchie  and  six  others  of 
the  Church  Missionary  Society)  might  be  provided 
with  a  uniform  Chinese  Prayer  Book,  he  was  told 
in  reply  that  such  changes  as  would  be  necessary 
to  bring  the  English  and  American  books  into  har 
mony  involved  the  sacrifice  of  "principle" !  * 

Though  not  successful  in  this  attempt,  we  can  in 
a  way  call  this  move  of  Boone's  the  first  of  many 
subsequent  ones  towards  the  founding  of  the  Chung 
Hua  Sheng  Kung  Hui.  In  fact  he  wrote  in  1846  in 
connection  with  this  subject:  "I  suppose  that  all 
Churchmen,  both  in  England  and  America,  will 
sympathize  with  me  in  the  wish,  that  when  in  the 
Providence  of  God  the  time  shall  have  arrived  for 
committing  our  work  into  the  hands  of  native 
Bishops,  that  all  in  China  who  may  have  been 
gathered  into  the  Christian  fold  by  the  Missionaries 
from  the  Church  of  either  country,  may  unite  and 
form  one  Church." 

The  demand  for  a  revised  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  was  met  in  a  very  satisfactory  way.  A 

1  See  The  Spirit  of  Missions,  Vol.  XII,  pp.  225-268. 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  61 

committee  composed  of  representatives  from  several 
mission  boards  was  appointed.  Workers  from 
Hong  Kong,  Canton,  Amoy,  Ningpo,  Foo  Chow  and 
Shanghai  were  among  those  included.  To  each  was 
given  a  different  part  of  the  New  Testament  to 
render  in  Chinese. 

A  standard  version  was  needed.  There  were  al 
ready  three  in  existence,  Morrison's,  Gutzlaff's  and 
Medhurst's,  but  inasmuch  as  they  gave  different 
renderings  of  important  passages  a  new  one  was 
needed  to  take  their  place  and  to  be  a  general  source 
of  reference  for  the  representatives  of  different 
Churches. 

When  one  remembers  how  much  the  clergy  re 
ferred  to  the  ipsissima  verba  in  those  days;  how  to 
the  English  the  English  words  of  the  English  ver 
sion  had  become  veritable  standards  of  orthodoxy, 
he  can  see  how  vital  a  matter  it  was  to  the  mis 
sionaries  at  that  time  to  have  a  standard  version 
of  the  Bible  to  which  all  could  refer  questions  of 
dispute.  What — for  illustration — would  have  hap 
pened  in  England  and  America  in  the  early  19th 
Century  if  there  had  been  several  versions  in  cir 
culation,  each  of  which  used  a  different  word  for 
"God."  In  Chinese  the  idea  of  "Deity"  could  be 
expressed  in  different  ways.  In  fact  the  English, 
American  and  Roman  missionaries  each  used  a 
different  term.  Which  should  be  taken  as  the 
standard?  This  and  other  serious  problems  con 
fronted  the  translating  committee.  The  history  of 
its  activities  is  long  and  involved  and  of  interest 


62  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

only  to  the  specialist,  but  these  bare  facts  should 
be  remembered  in  order  that  the  reader  may  possess 
some  idea  of  one  of  the  hardest  problems  which  had 
to  be  solved  by  our  Bishop. 

"Out-station"  Beginnings.  Or  turn  to  another  side 
of  the  work.  Take  the  matter  of  establishing  out- 
stations.  Clearly  the  missionaries  could  not  be  content 
to  remain  in  Shanghai — they  had  to  extend  the  bounds 
of  the  Kingdom.  And  yet  to  do  so  was  not  easy  since 
beyond  the  city  gates  was  practically  forbidden 
ground.  They  were  permitted  by  the  government 
to  go  on  excursions,  provided  they  were  not  absent 
from  Shanghai  more  than  twenty-four  hours,  but 
this  was  not  enough  to  make  practicable  the  found 
ing  of  new  out-stations. 

The  Reverend  Edward  W.  Syle,  who  was  in  the 
field  from  1845-1861,  and  whose  diary  preserved  in 
The  Spirit  of  Missions  is  the  best  record  we  have 
of  the  times,  gives  us  a  good  picture  of  what  little 
they  could  do. 

"On  invitation  of  Dr.  Lockhart,  (medical  mission 
ary  from  the  London  Society,)  I  accompanied  him 
in  one  of  the  frequent  excursions,  which  he  and  Dr. 
Medhurst  are  accustomed  to  make,  for  the  purpose 
of  distributing  books  and  tracts  through  the  sur 
rounding  country.  In  order  to  comply  with  the 
consular  regulation,  (which  limits  the  time,  during 
which  a  foreigner  may  be  absent  from  Shanghai, 
for  the  purpose  of  travelling  inland,  to  twenty-four 
hours,)  we  got  into  a  boat  at  about  midnight,  took 
what  rest  we  could,  while  the  boatmen  sculled 


A   CONFIRMATION   CLASS  AT  AN  OUTSTAT1ON 


AN  OUTSTATION   CHAPEL 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  63 

steadily  through  the  winding  canals,  towards  our 
point  of  destination,  the  city  of  Chingpoo,  distant 
about  thirty  miles.  Nine  o'clock  next  morning 
found  us  at  the  foot  of  a  few  hills  which  are  the 
only  ones  that  break  the  monotony  of  flatness  for 
many  a  league,  in  this  region.  A  walk  of  five  miles 
brought  us  to  Chingpoo,  and  there  we  distributed 
great  numbers  of  tracts,  etc.,  finding  it  difficult  to 
pass  through  the  streets  with  sufficient  rapidity  to 
prevent  our  being  borne  down  by  the  crowd  which 
followed  us.  Our  books  were  generally  received 
with  great  civility,  nay,  with  an  appearance  of 
courtesy,  which  afforded  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  general  attention  paid  to  the  cultivation  of  good 
manners.  In  a  few  cases  they  were  taken  with  an 
ungraciousness  which  reminded  me  of  the  manner 
with  which  the  tract-distributor  in  Christian  lands 
is  sometimes  greeted ;  but  in  only  two  or  three  in 
stances  were  they  positively  refused." 

This  is  but  a  sample  of  the  "out-station"  begin 
nings,  but  it  at  least  reveals  the  limited  extent  to 
which  the  workers  could  go  in  the  early  days  be 
yond  a  "treaty  port."  And  yet  it  was  from  these 
small  beginnings  that  there  has  since  emerged  a 
splendid  Church  throughout  the  Valley  of  the 
Yangtse.  The  first  permanent  establishment  of 
work  beyond  the  city  limits  was  in  1857  at  Sinza, 
a  suburb  north  of  Shanghai.  In  the  next  year  Zang- 
Zok  was  taken  on  for  a  while  and  then  Chefoo  in  '61. 

Medical  Beginnings.  It  took  many  years  of  patient 
struggle  to  get  medical  work  started.  Time  and  again 


64          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

appeals  were  written  to  the  Foreign  Committee,  to 
friends,  to  anybody  who  seemed  hopeful,  asking  for 
a  doctor  to  start  the  ministry  of  healing.  A  little 
taste  of  what  could  be  done  was  had  when  the 
Bishop's  brother  visited  the  mission.  As  a  physician 
he  rendered  no  little  help,  and  the  poor  people 
flocked  about  him  wherever  he  went  begging  for 
help.  After  he  had  gone  the  missionaries  were 
not  a  little  embarrassed  by  continued  appeals  from 
people  who  could  not  understand  why  they  could 
not  heal  them  just  as  well  as  Dr.  Boone  had. 

This  important  phase  of  gospel  propaganda  was 
not  really  begun  until  1855,  when  Dr.  Fish  came 
out,  opened  a  dispensary  and  did  great  things — for 
awhile.  But  alas !  a  civil  offer  tempted  him  and  he 
yielded.  Then  followed  another  period  of  sterility, 
until  the  coming  of  Dr.  Bunn  in  '74,  who  was  the 
real  founder  of  our  medical  work  in  China.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  Dr.  Bunn  did  not  remain  in  Shang 
hai  where  everything  else  had  begun,  but  went  up 
the  river  and  started  in  Wuchang,  where  he  re 
mained  and  labored  gloriously  for  five  years.  Medi 
cal  work  in  Shanghai  was  curiously  slow  in  get 
ting  started.  Not  until  1880,  when  Bishop  Boone's 
eldest  son  went  out,  were  permanent  foundations 
laid. 

Why  is  it  so  hard  to  get  doctors  to  volunteer? 
When  we  read  the  foregoing  we  perceive  that  of 
all  phases  of  work  medical  was  the  last  to  be  es 
tablished — very  much  the  last.  Today,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  same  condition  prevails.  Our  physicians 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  65 

work  their  hearts  out  waiting  for  help.  It  is  not 
as  if  the  work  were  undesirable,  for  physicians 
have  enormous  scientific  opportunities  and  "sure 
pay"  for  their  labors.  In  no  field  does  the  attraction 
seem  greater.  To  a  medical  man,  to  the  kind  that 
is  not  in  it  for  the  money,  and  there  are  many 
such,  to  one  who  wants  a  chance  to  do  thorough 
and  skillful  experimentation,  it  is  hard  to  imagine 
a  more  alluring  chance  than  is  presented  in  oriental 
lands.  And  yet  volunteers  do  not  come  forward 
today  any  more  than  they  did  in  the  forties  and 
fifties.  Surely  doctors  are  not  more  subject  to  nos 
talgia  than  others! 

The  First  Girls'  School.  One  last  word  about  the 
laying  of  foundations.  Long  and  patiently  did  the 
women  workers  have  to  wait  for  the  days  when  they 
could  start  a  girls'  school.  As  was  seen,  their  energies 
were  fully  occupied  with  the  boys'  school.  Appeal  after 
appeal  went  out  for  some  one  to  relieve  Miss  Jones  and 
Miss  Fay  so  that  they  could  take  up  work  among 
girls,  but  it  was  not  till  '48  that  they  found  the 
opportunity. 

Mr.  Syle  in  his  diary  tells  thus  of  the  arrival  of 
the  happy  moment:  "Shanghai,  May  8th.  This 
day  we  count  an  era  in  the  progress  of  our  efforts 
here.  A  little  girl  has  been  bound  to  Miss  Jones 
for  a  term  of  years — to  be,  as  we  trust,  only  the 
first  fruits  of  a  numerous  school.  Besides  this,  the 
ladies  of  the  Mission  paid  a  visit  to  the  females  of 
the  Wong  family,  who  are  our  near  neighbors,  and 
were  received  with  much  freedom  and  interest.  This 


66  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

day's  events  I  regard  as  an  effectual  breaking 
the  ice  in  the  matter  of  instructing  girls  and  women 
here." 

Thus  began  that  most  occidental  of  all  our  ori 
ental  undertakings,  educational  work  among  wom 
en.  Confucius  and  the  other  wise  men  of  the  East 
had  made  remarks  to  the  effect  that  to  educate 
women  would  be  to  cast  pearls  among  swine,  so 
that  this  phase  of  the  undertaking  was  perhaps  the 
most  revolutionary  of  all.  Had  it  begun,  as  have 
some  of  our  modern  American  institutions  of  learn 
ing,  with  an  abundance  of  money  and  splendid 
buildings,  China  would  probably  have  been  shocked 
through  and  through,  perhaps  so  much  so  that 
what  little  welcome  was  extended  would  have  been 
withheld.  As  it  was,  the  first  schools  for  girls  were 
so  insignificant  that  few  realized  their  significance 
or  whereunto  they  would  grow. 

Sixty- five  years  have  seen  great  changes  in 
China.  Things  that  were  once  little  have  become 
large,  and  things  that  were  once  insignificant  have 
now  become  signs  of  approaching  dawn.  Let  us 
remember  those  early  days  as  days  of  little  things; 
as  days  when  the  workers  were  so  few  that  the 
arrival  of  one  new  man  or  woman  was  an  event  of 
stupendous  importance;  as  days  when  the  death  or 
departure  of  one  of  the  force  made  them  wonder 
whether  or  not  they  would  be  able  to  continue  in 
the  Lord's  garden.  The  days  which  were  to  follow 
were  to  be  such  as  always  follow  after  the  sowing 
of  seed  in  difficult  soil.  They  were  to  be  times  of 


The  Beginnings  at  Shanghai  67 

small  returns,  of  anxiety,  of  depression  and  often 
moments  of  despair,  but  in  the  end,  as  we  know,  all 
turned  out  well,  and  of  the  happy  ending  we  shall 
hear  in  later  chapters. 


EBB   AND   FLOW 


CHAPTER  III 
EBB  AND  FLOW 

This  chapter  must  be  more  or  less  statistical.  It 
deals  with  a  period  in  which  many  things  were 
done,  and  many  undone,  and,  all  in  all,  covers  the 
least  interesting  period  of  the  work. 

The  seed  had  been  sown,  and  the  years  in  which 
returns  were  to  be  waited  for  had  to  be  endured. 
If  the  reader  knows  anything  about  fruit  farming, 
he  knows  that  it  takes  time  to  get  results.  One 
must  wait  till  the  trees  become  productive.  Even 
so  in  China  they  had  to  wait  for  the  trees  to  grow 
large  enough  to  bear  fruit. 

To  carry  the  metaphor  further,  just  as  in  farm 
ing,  frosts  and  blights  often  occur,  delaying  beyond 
ordinary  expectation  the  process,  so  in  China  un 
expected  difficulties  arose  and  tried  mightily  the 
patience  of  the  laborers.  On  some  occasions  so 
serious  were  the  difficulties  that  the  missionaries 
feared  that  all  was  lost — that  their  fruit  trees  had 
been  utterly  ruined.  One  thing  would  come  up 
after  another.  In  '64,  when  the  great  Bishop  died, 
the  very  world  seemed  to  have  come  to  an  end. 

The  Years  of  Trial.  Consider,  for  example,  this 
series  of  events  which  lead  up  to  the  death  of  Boone. 
Miss  Morse  had  had  to  give  up  and  go  home  in  '52,  and 
was  followed  by  Miss  Wray  in  '55.  Dr.  Fish,  upon 


72  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

whom  all  the  medical  work  depended,  and  Mr.  Pointer 
left  in  '56,  and  Mr.  Liggins,  a  recruit  of  great  promise, 
went  to  Japan  in  '59.  Mr.  Yokum  was  the  only 
one  to  go  in  '60,  but  '61  was  a  disastrous  year.  Miss 
Emma  Jones,  a  pillar  of  strength,  Mr.  Syle,  who 
had  become  invaluable,  Mr.  Purden  and  two  lay 
volunteers  named  Doyen  and  Hubbell  all  went  home, 
and  up  in  Chefoo,  where  the  Bishop  wanted  to  es 
tablish  an  out-station,  Mr.  Parker  received  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  at  the  hands  of  a  mob.  In 
'62  two  more  deaths  occurred,  Mr.  Keith's  and  Mrs. 
Smith's  and  the  latter's  bewildered  husband  left 
in  '63. 

To  one  who  remembers  that  the  staff  was  small 
the  news  that  these  disasters  resulted  in  nearly 
shutting  down  the  work  should  not  be  unexpected. 
Constructive  educational  work  was  suspended;  of 
medical  work  there  was  none.  All  that  remained 
were  the  evangelistic  laborings  of  two  clergy,  one  an 
American,  Mr.  Thomson,  and  one  a  native,  our  friend 
Wong  Kong  Chai.  Whenever  one  thinks  about  the 
Church  in  China  these  two  should  be  remembered. 
They  weathered  a  storm  of  surpassing  violence, 
they  stood  by  the  ship.  To  them  and  their  cheerful 
courage  the  American  Mission  owes  more  than  it 
can  ever  repay. 

There  were  other  heroes  to  be  sure,  but  they 
were  not  called  on  to  endure  what  these  two  did. 
Miss  Fay  had  taken  up  work  in  the  Church  Mis 
sionary  Society  School,  and  Mr.  Schereschewsky 


Ebb  and  Flow  73 

had  gone  to  Pekin,  where  he  was  busy  translating 
the  Bible. 

Causes  of  the  Difficulties.  A  combination  of  cir 
cumstances  was  responsible  for  these  untoward  hap 
penings.  The  American  Civil  War  gave  the  first  serious 
blow  to  the  mission.  As  was  pointed  out,  Southern 
Churchmen,  especially  South  Carolinians,  had  contrib 
uted  loyally  and  largely  to  the  China  work.  Naturally, 
now  that  the  Church  in  those  States  became  the  Epis 
copal  Church  of  the  Confederate  States,  whatever 
moneys  were  collected  in  the  South  would  go  to 
the  Southern  Board  of  Missions.  Under  the  stress 
of  circumstances,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
unable  to  inaugurate  work  in  China — but  that  is 
another  story. 

All  support  therefore  from  below  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  was  lost  to  the  Board,  and,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  the  Bishop  in  Shanghai  whose  sym 
pathies  were  with  his  Southern  brethren,  was  de 
pendent  upon  their  Northern  adversaries  for  his 
work.  As  an  illustration  of  how  serious  this  was, 
it  can  be  stated  that  almost  half  of  the  scholars  in 
his  boys'  schools  were  directly  supported  by  con 
gregations  south  of  Richmond. 

In  addition  to  this  difficulty  at  their  base  of  sup 
plies,  there  were  troubles  in  China.  That  queer 
affair  called  the  Tai  Ping  rebellion  was  convulsing 
the  land.  A  lowly  born  man  by  the  name  of  Hung 
Hsiu-chuan  had  had  dreams  and  seen  visions  in  the 
which  he  was  commanded  by  the  Almighty  to  ex 
terminate  devil  worship  from  the  land.  About  the 


74  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

same  time  he  had  happened  upon  some  Christian 
tracts.  He  put  the  two  together  and  interpreted 
the  former  in  what  he  thought  was  the  light  of  the 
latter  and  forthwith  formed  a  society,  called  the  Shang 
Ti  Hui,  or  Society  for  the  worship  of  the  Almighty. 
Backed  by  his  followers  he  instituted  a  crusade, 
much,  one  is  ashamed  to  admit,  like  some  of  the 
crusades  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Hung  may  have  meant  well  when  he  began,  but 
from  mere  idol  smashing  his  rapidly  growing  crew 
turned  to  open  political  rebellion  and,  before  they 
were  suppressed,  set  China  aflame  and  caused  the 
death  by  fire  or  sword  or  famine  of  untold  multi 
tudes.1  The  province  of  Kiangsu,  in  which  lies 
Shanghai,  in  no  way  escaped  from  the  horrors  of 
this  reign  of  terror,  (it  lasted  from  1850  to  1864,) 
and  as  a  result  many  things  which  might  have  been 
attempted  were  left  untouched.  It  might  be  men 
tioned  that  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  hero  of 
Khartoum  acquired  his  soubriquet  of  "Chinese  Gor 
don,"  since  he  had  much  to  do  with  putting  an 
end  to  the  rebels  and  their  government. 

It  may  well  be  seen,  then,  how  great  were  the 
obstacles  which  thwarted  the  plans  of  the  few  mis 
sionaries  who  had  remained.  It  will  also  be  seen 
why  the  sixties  were  lean  and  lonely  years,  and 
the  seventies  days  of  small  things. 

Bishop  Williams.  But  the  dark  is  not  the  only  side 
of  any  shield.   Disappointments  there  were  many,  and 

1  See  for  account  of  this  Pott's  "Sketch  of  Chinese  History," 
Chapters  XIX  and  XXI. 


Ebb  and  Flow  75 

the  workers  were  few,  and  yet,  to  return  to  the  meta 
phor,  one  by  one  the  fruit  trees  became  sturdy  and  buds 
appeared  on  their  branches.  Perhaps  the  best  way  in 
which  to  understand  how  the  work  developed  in 
these  two  decades  is  to  center  it  around  certain 
figures  and  institutions.  To  begin  with,  Bishop 
Williams  stands  out  so  clearly  that  he  provides  a 
focus  from  which  to  start. 

Channing  Moore  Williams,  a  Virginian,  had  come 
out  in  '56  and  had  shown  himself  at  once  to  be  an 
adept  in  winning  the  hearts  of  the  Chinese.  He 
never  was  a  statesman,  and  as  an  executive  he  did 
not  shine.  In  fact  the  material  side  of  things  went 
rather  to  rust  under  his  administration  in  Japan.  He 
was,  however,  a  great  lover  of  humanity,  one  of 
those  gentle,  humble  souls  whose  very  gentleness 
commands  attention.  Some  men  are  so  aggressive 
as  to  be  quite  insignificant.  Williams  lacked  official 
aggressiveness  altogether  and  yet  became  a  great 
power  for  righteousness.  As  an  illustration  of  his 
humility  there  is  still  shown  in  Tokyo  the  room  in 
St.  Paul's  dormitory  in  which  the  old  Bishop  lived, 
and  which  he  wanted  to  exchange  for  a  student's 
much  smaller  room,  because  he  felt  the  student 
needed  air  and  sunshine  more  than  he. 

After  the  death  of  Bishop  Boone  the  Church  in 
China  had  been  without  a  head  for  two  years.  Ru 
mors  of  another  change  of  base  were  in  the  air,  due, 
in  the  first  place  to  a  statement  in  a  letter  from  a 
worker  in  Canton  that  the  majority  of  missionaries 
felt,  that  given  equal  opportunities  for  doing  good, 


76  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

it  was  wiser  to  work  in  that  climate  which  was 
healthiest.  And  due,  in  the  second  place,  to  an  edito 
rial  comment  on  this  in  The  Spirit  of  Missions,  which 
said:  "Bishop  Boone  was  in  favor  of  going  north 
ward  and  our  two  missionaries  now  in  China,  the 
Reverend  Messrs.  Thomson  and  Schereschewsky 
are  in  favor  of  making  Pekin  the  headquarters  of 
our  mission  and  the  see  of  the  successor  to  Bishop 
Boone." 

Fortunately  nothing  resulted  from  these  murmur- 
ings.  The  valley  of  the  Yangtse  has  proven  abun 
dantly  that  it  is  the  center  of  China  in  more  ways 
than  the  geographical,  and  moreover,  another 
change  of  base  and  another  abandonment  of  work 
would  have  come  as  a  heavy  blow  to  the  supporters 
at  home  who  had  often  been  disturbed  by  the  ap 
parent  impermanence  of  the  work. 

At  the  Convention  of  1865  Mr.  Williams  was 
elected  Bishop  of  China  and  Japan.  This  needs  a 
word  of  explanation.  The  new  Bishop  had  gone 
out  to  work  in  China  and  had  spent  his  first  years 
there,  but  had  been  transferred  to  Japan  in  '59. 
Thus  he  was  cognizant  of  conditions  in  both  lands, 
and,  inasmuch  as  the  exchequer  was  not  overflow 
ing,  it  was  decided  to  save  money  and  make  Will 
iams  bishop  of  both  the  Sunrise  and  Middle  King 
doms. 

Obviously  to  be  in  two  places  so  far  apart  as 
China  and  Japan  at  once  made  heavy  demands  upon 
the  new  apostle.  To  read  of  his  endeavors  to  do 
all  that  was  expected  of  him  is  like  reading  about 


Ebb  and  Flow  77 

the  journeyings  of  the  first  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 
Now  in  Tokyo,  now  in  Soochow,  now  in  Nagasaki, 
now  going  all  the  way  from  Osaka  to  Wuchang  to 
spend  a  week  there  and  then  rush  back — thus  this 
modern  St.  Paul  went  about  his  work.  Intensive 
cultivation,  so  much  of  a  fad  in  these  days,  was  to 
Williams  quite  out  of  the  question.  His  only  course 
was  to  scatter  seed  as  consistently  as  possible,  and 
never  to  lose  an  opportunity,  whether  on  shipboard, 
in  a  wagon  or  in  the  midst  of  his  flock,  of  telling  the 
good  news. 

Such  was  the  episcopate  of  Channing  Moore  Will 
iams  from  1866  until,  at  his  request,  he  was  relieved 
of  the  oversight  of  the  work  in  China  in  '77.  He 
had  asked  that  this  be  done  in  '74,  but  no  one  could 
be  found  brave  enough  to  take  even  half  of  his  bur 
den  till  three  years  later. 

During  these  years  his  chief  helpers  were  Mr. 
Thomson  and  Mr.  Schereschewsky,  whom  we  al 
ready  know,  Reverend  Robert  Nelson,  than  whom 
China  never  had  a  better  friend,  his  ministry  there 
lasting  thirty  years,  Augustus  Hohing,  the  founder 
of  the  Hankow  work,  Samuel  R.  J.  Hoyt  and  Will 
iam  James  Boone,  who  had  been  appointed  at  the 
same  time;  Dr.  Bunn,  the  founder  of  our  medical 
work,  and  last,  but  far  from  least,  Miss  Fay,  who 
continued  her  wonderful  career  until  her  death  in 
1878. 

Beginnings  at  Hankow.  Of  the  actual  accomplish 
ments  of  Williams'  episcopate  the  first  place  should  be 
given  to  the  establishment  of  a  station  at  Hankow.  This 


?8          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

was  so  great  an  event  that  a  date  should  be  given.  June 
22nd,  1868,  was  the  exact  time  when  the  station, 
whose  very  name  now  suggests  such  large  things, 
was  opened.  The  incidents  surrounding  this  event 
were  simple  enough.  The  Bishop  made  up  his  mind 
after  laborious  tours  of  inspection  to  many  points, 
that  he  could  not  afford  to  leave  Hankow  and  Wu 
chang  unoccupied.  There  were  many  places  where 
work  "just  had  to  be  started  at  once  or  a  great 
opportunity  lost,"  (how  familiar  those  words  sound 
to  us!) — there  were  lots  of  such  places — but  Han 
kow  seemed  to  be  the  most  important.  How  clear 
was  his  vision !  Accordingly  to  Hankow  he  went, 
and  with  him  he  took  Mr.  Hohing  and  Mr.  Yen  who 
had  just  been  made  a  deacon,  and  there  they  settled 
down,  and  there  they  laid  broad  and  deep  the 
foundations  of  the  diocese  of  Hankow. 

Yen.  Of  Mr.  Yen  one  would  like  to  speak  at  great 
length.  Probably  no  Chinese  presbyter  was  ever 
more  venerated  than  he.  Educated  in  the  little 
school  at  Shanghai  and  then  at  Kenyon  College,  he 
had  taken  advantage  of  every  opportunity  and  had 
become  in  time  a  scholar  of  considerable  ability. 
Of  his  gentleness  and  dignity,  of  his  learning  and 
zeal,  all  who  knew  him  spoke  enthusiastically.  From 
1868  to  1898  he  ceased  not  to  preach  Christ  and 
Him  crucified  to  his  brethren  in  the  great  land  of 
Sinim.  It  is  told  of  him  that  when  first  he  applied 
to  be  taken  as  a  candidate  for  Orders  the  Bishop 
had  told  him  that  he  had  no  money  wherewith  to 
help  him.  The  story  goes  on  to  relate  how  he 


Ebb  and  Flow  79 

at  once  obtained  a  lucrative  position  as  interpreter 
at  the  British  Consulate  and  remained  there  until 
the  Bishop  could  provide  for  him,  and  then,  at 
great  monetary  sacrifice,  gave  up  his  well-paid  po 
sition  and  accepted,  as  his  Master  had,  poverty  in 
order  that  he  might  the  better  serve  his  fellow  men. 

Boone  College.  The  two  chief  happenings  at  Han 
kow  were  of  course  the  beginning  of  medical  work  and 
the  founding  of  what  has  since  become  Boone  College. 
It  was  in  September,  1871,  that  the  latter  took 
place.  Named  after  the  great  founder  of  the  work, 
the  Bishop  Boone  Memorial  School,  situated  in  the 
Wuchang  compound,  had  begun  propitiously  with 
three  pupils — the  oriental  as  well  as  the  occidental 
loves  that  number.  Its  early  days  were,  like  those 
of  all  unendowed  schools  whether  in  Wuchang  or 
elsewhere,  days  of  struggling  to  survive.  But  cour 
age  was  never  lacking,  and  the  fight  was  always 
well  maintained,  and  today  it  has  become  one  of 
the  proudest  offspring  of  the  American  Mission — 
but  that  is  for  a  later  chapter  to  relate. 

In  this  connection  mention  at  least  must  be  made 
of  the  Jane  Bohlen  Memorial  School  for  girls,  since, 
though  it  was  not  begun  as  soon  as  the  boys'  school, 
it  was  projected  at  the  same  time,  and  its  origin 
should  therefore  be  similarly  dated. 

Dr.  Bunn.  The  other  event  of  moment  was  the 
coming  of  Dr.  Bunn,  our  first  medical  missionary  to 
China.  The  first  doctors  under  the  Board  went  to  Libe 
ria  in  the  mid-forties ;  they  were  T.  S.  Savage,  who  was 
also  a  priest,  and  George  A.  Perkins.  Japan  had  re- 


80          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

ceived  her  first  physician  from  us  in  1860,  so  in  things 
medical  China  was  far  behind  her.  Mr.  Thomson 
had,  to  be  sure,  opened  a  hospital  at  Shanghai  ear 
lier  than  this,  and  there  had  been  the  short  service 
of  Dr.  Fish,  but  to  the  upriver  station  belongs  the 
honor  of  having  the  first  permanent  missionary  doc 
tor,  and  China's  medical  missions  cannot  be  said  to 
antedate  1874. 

One  naturally  asks  at  once  why  Dr.  Bunn  did 
not  settle  at  the  older  station  instead  of  going  to  the 
scarcely  settled  inland  point.  The  explanation  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  there  were  several  physi 
cians  already  in  Shanghai,  while  not  a  single  one 
was  to  be  found  in  Hankow  or  Wuchang.  That  one 
was  badly  wanted  at  the  new  station  is  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  or  ever  he  had  disembarked  Dr.  Bunn 
was  importuned  by  would-be  patients,  many  of 
whom  had  eagerly,  and  almost  in  tears,  been 
praying  that  nothing  untoward  might  befall  him 
on  the  journey. 

It  has  been  the  universal  experience  of  medical 
men  that  their  methods  are  distrusted  by  foreigners. 
Just  as  the  child  dreads  a  doctor  here  at  home  and 
trembles  at  the  sight  of  his  paraphernalia,  so  natives 
in  mission  lands  shrink  from  them.  Dr.  Bunn's 
early  experiences  were  no  exception  to  this  rule, 
and  many  were  the  tales  that  spread  about  his  infer 
nal  instruments  of  torture  and  his  cutting  up  chil 
dren  to  made  medicine  out  of  their  quivering 
remains.  It  took  great  patience  and  tact,  and  above 
all  entire  willingness  to  let  anybody  and  everybody 


Ebb  and  Flow  8ii 

inspect  anything  and  everything  he  had  or  did  to 
assure  his  safety  during  the  first  months.  How 
ever,  the  people  soon  found  that  Bunn  was  no  ogre 
or  child-killer,  but  rather  a  gentle,  lovable  friend, 
and  before  many  years  had  passed  no  man  in  the 
neighborhood  was  more  revered  than  he. 

Naturally,  the  aspiring  physician  felt  he  must  have  a 
hospital.  Much  of  the  work  could  be  carried  on  with 
out  one,  but  something  had  to  be  provided  for 
those  unfortunates  who  came  to  him  and  who  had 
no  homes  to  which  to  return.  To  meet  this  neces 
sity,  at  first  a  temporary  building  was  put  up  in  the 
Compound,  but  in  '78,  just  after  his  wife  had  died, 
Dr.  Bunn  rented  a  house  and  opened  a  hospital  for 
women  and  children  under  the  now  familiar  name 
of  the  Elizabeth  Bunn  Memorial  Hospital. 

Progress  at  Shanghai.  So  began  the  two  most  im 
portant  phases  of  our  institutional  work  "up  the  river" 
in  the  days  of  Bishop  Williams.  In  the  meantime  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Shanghai  the  Church  was  beginning 
to  recover  from  the  depression  which  had  made  the 
'60s  such  dark  days.  It  is  only  fair  though  to  the  fine 
old  soldier  of  Christ,  Mr.  Thomson,  to  say  that  even 
when  things  looked  to  those  at  home  darkest,  he  had 
written  cheerfully  and  protested  vehemently  against 
any  expressions  of  discouragement. 

Miss  Fay  had  reopened  the  boys'  school — the 
forerunner  of  the  now  proud  St.  John's,  and  a  theo 
logical  department  under  the  name  of  Duane  Hall 
and  Divinity  School  was  added.  Thus  the  begin 
nings  of  a  university  were  laid  down.  In  addition 


82          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

to  these  educational  activities  Mr.  Thomson's 
embryo  hospital  had  helped  15,000  sufferers  in  one 
year,  and  last,  and  most  important  of  all,  the  evan 
gelistic  work  had  been  so  pressed  forward  that  sev 
eral  outstations  were  opened. 

Bishop  Schereschewsky.  Before  bringing  this  part 
of  the  story  to  a  close  something  must  be  told  of  the 
other  leader,  Bishop  Williams*  greatest  coadjutor  and 
ultimate  successor,  Samuel  Isaac  Joseph  Schereschew 
sky.  As  his  name  rather  boisterously  proclaims,  this 
good  man  was  by  birth  a  Russian  Jew.  After  a 
youth  of  hard  study  in  Russia  he  had  emigrated  to 
America  and  been  well  trained  in  a  Presbyterian 
Seminary  in  Pennsylvania,  and  subsequently  in  the 
General  Seminary  in  New  York.  In  '59  he  had 
heard  Bishop  Boone  appeal  for  men  and  had  gone 
to  China  with  him.  On  arriving  he  quickly  gave 
evidence  of  remarkable  linguistic  gifts,  setting  to 
work  to  learn  the  Language  in  a  way  that  made 
him  a  marked  man.  Frequently  we  are  told  he 
would  not  go  out-doors  for  a  week,  so  engrossed 
would  he  become  in  his  studies. 

From  1862-1875  he  lived  in  Pekin,  as  has  already 
been  pointed  out,  bringing  all  his  native  Jewish,  and 
his  acquired  Greek  and  Latin  and  English  knowl 
edge  to  bear  upon  the  task  of  rendering  the  Bible  in 
China's  official  language,  Mandarin. 

On  the  resignation  of  Williams  in  74  Scher 
eschewsky  was  elected  Bishop  of  China,  but  the 
godly  man  sent  back  an  honest  nolo  episcopari.  He 
felt  that  the  scholar's  life  was  the  only  one  in  which 


Ebb  and  Flow  83 

he  could  do  well.  A  Mr.  Orrick  of  Pennsylvania 
was  then  called  upon  by  the  House  of  Bishops,  but 
he  too  felt  that  he  was  not  fitted  for  the  undertak 
ing.  Upon  this  the  Electors  fell  back  again  upon 
Schereschewsky  in  '77  and  put  the  matter  before 
him  in  such  a  way  that  he  could  not  decline. 
Accordingly  he  was  consecrated — in  Grace  Church, 
New  York,  since  he  was  at  home  on  furlough — in 
October  of  that  year. 

Inasmuch  as  the  episcopate  of  Schereschewsky 
falls  within  the  scope  of  the  next  chapter,  it  had 
best  not  be  dealt  with  here.  The  student  of  China's 
history,  however,  should  have  a  generous  picture  of 
this  great  man  and  it  cannot  be  better  procured  than 
by  quoting  an  account  of  him  given  by  the  widow  of 
the  second  Bishop  Boone: 

"It  was  my  very  good  fortune  to  meet  both  the 
Bishop  and  Mrs.  Schereschewsky  in  London  in 
1878,  while  they  were  en  route  to  China  and  my  hus 
band  and  myself  were  coming  home.  We  spent 
about  six  weeks  there  and  occupied  ourselves  in 
sightseeing.  I  recall  my  gratification  in  having  so 
tremendously  well  informed  a  companion  in  our 
rambles.  It  mattered  not  what  we  saw  or  where 
we  went,  the  Bishop  knew  all  about  everything. 

"One's  first  visit  to  London  always  includes  the 
Zoo,  and  there  I  can  see  the  Bishop  now  in  mem 
ory,  enthusiastically  expounding  the  habits  of 
snakes,  pointing  out  their  beautiful  coloring ;  and  so 
it  was  with  everything  historical,  horticultural, 
or  artistic,  he  had  real  knowledge  of  all  we  saw,  not 


84          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

ostentatiously  displayed,  but  naturally  in  an  ordin 
ary  conversation. 

"It  was  the  year  of  the  second  Pan  Anglican,  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  so  impressed 
with  the  deep  learning  of  our  Bishop,  that  he  was 
reported  as  remarking,  that  'the  Bishop  of  Shanghai 
was  one  of  six  really  learned  men  in  the  world.' 
There  were  many  and  great  services  during  that 
time,  but  the  Bishop  always  avoided  the  procession, 
and  we  used  to  get  what  sittings  we  could  find 
among  the  great  congregation.  However,  he  was 
generally  discovered  and  a  verger  sent  to  invite  the 
Bishop  and  his  chaplain  to  'come  up  higher.' " 


The  Story  of 
The  Church  in  China 

Part  II 


SIGNIFICANT  DEVELOPMENT  IN   EDUCA 
TIONAL   WORK 

1878-1879 


CHAPTER   I 

SIGNIFICANT  DEVELOPMENT  IN  EDUCA 
TIONAL  WORK 

1878-1879 

Purchase  of  the  Jessfield  Property  for  St.  John's 
College.  In  1878  Bishop  Schereschewsky  began  a 
work  which  was  destined  to  grow  into  one  of  the 
great  forces  for  the  regeneration  of  China.  This 
was  the  establishment  of  St.  John's  College.  The 
old  mission  property  in  Shanghai  was  situated  in 
Hongkew  (the  "American  settlement").  This  part 
of  the  city  was  becoming  the  busy  downtown  of 
trading  Shanghai  and  while  a  splendid  field  for 
medical  work  and,  surrounded  by  a  dense  Chinese 
population,  for  evangelistic  work,  it  had  become 
unsuited  for  higher  school  work.  The  same  causes 
that  had  made  it  such  a  busy  centre  had  however 
greatly  enhanced  the  value  of  the  land. 

It  was  decided  to  reserve  part  of  the  mission 
property  for  the  work  of  the  station  centering 
around  the  Church  of  our  Saviour  and  lease  the 
remainder  for  a  term  of  years.  With  money  bor 
rowed  upon  the  faith  of  these  long  leases  thirteen 
acres  of  ground  in  the  suburbs  of  Shanghai  were 
purchased  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  college 

8? 


88          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

which  the  workers  saw  was  now  an  imperative 
need  for  the  proper  development  of  the  mission 
work  in  the  training  up  of  native  workers.  This 
splendid  piece  of  property  thus  acquired  is  situated 
five  miles  from  the  Bund,  as  the  avenue  in  Shang 
hai  along  the  river  was  called,  and  had  been  the 
country  seat  of  a  wealthy  foreign  merchant.  It  was 
approached  by  the  "Bubbling  Well"  Road,  leading 
out  from  Shanghai,  on  which  were  situated  the 
spacious  residences  of  Shanghai  merchants,  but  it 
was  itself  quite  out  in  the  country  and  most  suitable 
as  the  seat  of  an  educational  institution.  The  Su- 
chow  creek  winds  around  the  compound  making  it  a 
perfect  peninsula.  A  good  sized  house  was  already 
there  which  was  available  for  mission  purposes  and 
plans  were  immediately  drawn  up  for  a  larger 
building  to  be  erected  for  the  college.  In  front  of 
the  house  was  a  fine  large  lawn  which  would  have 
been  a  credit  to  any  American  college.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  building  up  of  the  Church  in 
China  the  establishment  of  this  Church  college  was 
a  momentous  step  forward,— while  from  a  purely 
financial  point  of  view  it  was  a  splendid  investment 
as  was  proven  by  the  fact  that  the  Bishop  was 
offered  an  advance  of  $4,500  on  his  purchase  price 
shortly  after  he  had  acquired  it. 

The  nucleus  of  the  college  was  already  estab 
lished.  Baird  Hall  and  Duane  Hall,  the  two  suc 
cessful  schools  for  boys  in  Shanghai  which  had 
been  in  charge  of  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Thomson  and  Miss 
Fay  were  combined  to  make  the  new  college,  so 


Development  in  Educational  Work  89 

that  it  started  out  with  a  good  quota  of  students. 
For  its  equipment  an  appeal  for  $100,000  was  sent 
to  the  Church  in  America. 

Wise  Statesmanship.  One  cannot  be  too  thank 
ful  for  the  wise  Christian  statemanship  displayed 
by  Bishop  Schereschewsky  in  his  scheme  for  a 
Christian  college  in  Shanghai.  He  saw  that  the 
future  interests  of  the  Mission  and  its  work  in 
China  demanded  educated  native  leadership  and 
with  far  reaching  vision  and  faith  he  planned  for 
the  future.  He  builded  wiser  than  he  knew.  He 
felt,  when  called  to  the  bishopric,  that  translating 
the  Bible  was  his  special  vocation — he  was  to  have, 
in  God's  providence,  many  years  reserved  for  that 
later — but  in  the  meantime  he  was  to  be  used  as 
the  agent  for  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations 
of  an  institution  which  has  sent  out  steady  streams 
of  light  and  learning  far  and  wide  throughout  China 
and  which  was  to  play  a  very  honorable  part  in 
bringing  in  "China's  New  Day."  Mr.  William  T. 
Ellis  says :  "The  International  marvel  of  the  decade 
is  the  creation  of  the  Chinese  Republic.  What  is 
the  explanation?  The  answer  is  clear  and  unani 
mous — the  Mission  schools.  If  Christian  schools 
had  not  been  taken  to  China  that  nation  would  still 
be  a  mediaeval  monarchy — tied  hand  and  foot  to  the 
Confucian  classics.  A  world  service  of  first  magni 
tude  has  been  done  by  the  missionaries  in  trans 
forming  old  China." 

Laying  of  the  Cornerstone.  On  Easter-Monday, 
April  14,  1879,  the  cornerstone  of  the  first  building 


90  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

of  St.  John's  College  was  laid  with  appropriate  cere 
monies.  It  was  a  day  of  much  rejoicing  in  the  Mis 
sion  circle  and  a  bright  and  happy  company,  as  it 
always  is  in  China  on  the  occasion  of  a  new  work 
started,  wended  its  way  to  the  grounds  from  Shang 
hai.  In  his  address  the  Bishop  called  attention  to 
the  importance  of  educating  the  youth  of  any  nation 
and  especially  to  the  importance  of  training  the 
youth  of  China  in  sound  learning  and  Christian 
truth.  He  struck  the  key-note  of  the  policy  of  the 
Mission  in  China  when  he  said :  "We  want  an 
institution  in  which  to  train  youth  for  the  service 
of  Christ.  I  believe  the  true  Apostles  of  China  must 
be  natives." 

Thus  was  St.  John's  College  started  on  its  noble 
career.  It  was  far  from  being  a  college  yet  in  any 
thing  but  name,  but  the  vision  and  the  hope  were 
there  that  some  day,  with  hard  work  and  much  help, 
a  great  school  of  Christian  learning  would  be  built 
up.  In  the  building  first  erected  there  were  accom 
modations  for  two  hundred  students,  but  it  was  evi 
dent  that  the  strong  desire  for  Western  learning 
that  was  to  sweep  with  such  force  over  China 
twenty  years  later  had  not  yet  begun  to  stir  in  the 
youth  of  Shanghai,  for  there  were  only  seventy-one 
admissions.  It  was  a  matter  of  rejoicing  to  the 
missionaries  that  they  could  give  the  Scholarships 
to  the  sons  of  Christians,  as  it  was  found  that 
heathen  parents  greatly  interfered  with  the  religious 
instruction  of  the  school.  Up  to  that  time  however 
the  Church  had  had  no  choice  in  the  matter — the 


Development  in  Educational  Work          91 

pupils  were  heathen  for  the  simple  reason  that  there 
was  no  Christian  community  to  draw  from.  That 
there  were  now  Christian  boys  was  also  a  matter  of 
great  encouragement  to  the  missionaries  because 
the  first  aim  of  St.  John's  was  to  provide  for  a  native 
ministry  of  a  high  order. 

Importance  of  the  Training  of  Native  Workers. 
It  is  very  clear  to  a  student  of  the  Church's  Mission 
in  China  that  the  Church  early  realized  its  main 
work  to  be  the  raising  up  and  training  of  Chinese 
evangelists,  teachers  and  clergy,  if  the  Church  there 
is  to  be  indigenous,  self-supporting,  self-governing 
and  self-propagating.  It  has  been  the  strength  of 
our  work  and  now  after  all  these  years  the  wis 
dom  of  this  policy  is  apparent  in  its  full  value. 
Other  missions  which  have  neglected  this  and  which 
used  the  foreign  missionary  almost  entirely  in 
preaching  to  the  heathen  and  then  in  acting  as  pas 
tors  to  the  native  congregations  gathered  together 
instead  of  training  up  natives  in  the  Christian 
ministry,  realize  now,  after  decades  of  such  work, 
that  they  have  a  very  insufficient  supply  of  trained 
natives  to  care  for  and  carry  on  the  work  they  have 
so  patiently  built  up,  and  in  spite  of  the  number  of 
converts  are  not  much  further  advanced  in  plant 
ing  the  native  Church  than  when  they  began.  The 
work  in  these  cases  has  been  dependent  upon  the 
coming  out  of  enough  foreign  missionaries  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  caring  for  the  Churches  when  the 
older  missionaries  have  been  withdrawn.  When  new 
workers  failed  to  come  not  only  has  the  work  failed 


92  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

to  advance  but  they  have  been  obliged  sometimes 
to  close  up  large  and  promising  fields.  On  the  con 
trary,  although  almost  continuously  undermanned 
with  foreign  missionaries,  our  work  has  made  steady 
progress  and  important  new  fields  have  often  been 
occupied,  not  by  a  resident  foreign  missionary  but 
by  the  alert  and  consecrated  native  worker. 

"I  have  always  considered  the  education  of 
youths  for  the  Holy  Ministry,  and  for  other  depart 
ments  of  missionary  work,  with  a  view  to  establish 
stations  in  the  interior  towns  and  villages  to  be  the 
most  important  duty  of  the  Church,"  wrote  the 
Rev.  Yen  Yun  Kiung  back  in  1880.  Apart  also  from 
the  work  of  educating  divinity  students  it  was 
found  necessary  to  have  laymen  for  evangelistic 
work  if  the  field  was  to  be  at  all  covered.  It  was 
not  enough  to  select  earnest  Christian  men  and 
women  and  send  them  forth  untrained  to  evangel 
ize.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  untrained  could  not 
be  relied  upon  after  the  first  warmth  of  earnestness 
and  zeal  was  chilled  by  the  hard  facts  of  evangel 
izing  a  great  heathen  population,  and  the  cold  indif 
ference  or  hateful  opposition  to  message  and  mes 
sengers.  To  this  work  of  training  native  preachers 
the  missionaries  seriously  set  themselves  in  St. 
John's  College  and  later  in  Boone  College  and  then 
in  the  training  schools  opened  as  time  went  on  for 
the  special  training  of  lay  workers.  A  clever  Chi 
nese  said  to  Miss  Fay  many  years  before  this,  after 
the  Boys'  Boarding  School  had  been  abandoned : 
"If  your  Mission  had  been  carried  on  as  begun  by 


Development  in  Educational  Work  93 

Bishop  Boone  you  would  now  have  highly  educated 
men  to  send  as  teachers  and  preachers  of  your; 
religion  throughout  the  Empire."  "I  trust,"  said 
Bishop  Cotton  of  Calcutta,  "that  we  English  bishops 
are  only  the  foreign  Augustines,  to  be  followed 
by  a  goodly  succession  of  Stigands."  Fired  by  this 
great  hope  of  the  future  our  little  group  of  mission 
aries  in  China,  insignificant  in  point  of  numbers, 
have  had  for  their  goal  the  raising  up  of  a  native 
ministry  and  a  native  Church. 

So  the  dream  of  Bishop  Schereschewsky  had 
come  true  at  last  and  St.  John's  was  an  established 
fact.  The  buildings  and  the  scholars  were  there 
and  the  missionaries  were  dividing  the  teaching 
among  themselves  as  best  they  could.  They  real 
ized,  however,  that  if  St.  John's  was  to  fulfill  their 
best  hopes  for  general  usefulness  it  must  have  men 
of  special  and  scientific  training.  The  next  step  was 
to  get  a  man  trained  as  a  teacher  to  have  general 
supervision  of  the  college  and  to  build  up  a  scien 
tific  department.  The  aim  was  to  make  the  college 
Christian  first  and  then  as  wide  in  its  range  as 
would  be  consistent  with  thoroughness.  It  was  no 
mean  conception  of  the  part  St.  John's  was  to  play 
in  bringing  in  a  day  of  light  and  progress  for  China. 
Bishop  Schereschewsky  writing  to  the  Board  of 
Missions  said:  "There  are  yet  in  China  very  few 
who  know  enough  of  Western  literature  and  science 
to  seek  what  is  offered  to  them.  Let  a  change  be 
made  in  what  is  required  in  Government  examina 
tions  and  there  will  be  a  great  demand  for  our 


94          The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

teachers  and  schools.  Shall  we  not  then  patiently 
abide  our  time  and  do  what  we  can  in  preparing  the 
lads  under  our  care  for  our  own  immediate  work?" 
The  changes  of  later  years  have  fully  justified  his 
faith  and  expectation. 

New  Recruits.  It  was  a  time  of  high  hopes  for 
the  Shanghai  Mission.  Four  new  recruits, — the 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  William  S.  Sayres  and  the  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  Daniel  M.  Bates,  Jr.,  had  recently  been  added 
to  the  staff.  Not  only  was  the  Shanghai  city  work 
developing  but  the  country  work  was  improving 
and  hopeful.  There  was  now  a  small  chain  of  out- 
stations  with  a  native  deacon  or  catechist  resident 
in  each,  when  possible  to  provide  one,  and  parochial 
schools  for  the  children.  In  this  outstation  work 
the  quickest  results  came  from  the  places  opened 
because  someone  had  heard  the  truth  in  some  other 
place  and  had  asked  the  missionaries  to  open  a 
preaching  hall  in  their  native  town  or  village.  Such 
an  encouraging  station  was  San  Ting  Ko  where  a 
new  chapel  had  been  recently  built  and  permanent 
work  established.  The  work  started  here  was  the 
direct  result  of  the  activity  of  a  man  converted  while 
a  patient  in  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  Shanghai. 

Day  Schools.  The  day  schools  were  always  a 
most  valuable  asset  to  Mission  work.  Mr.  Yen 
wrote  of  them  as  the  "real  nets  of  our  Church  to 
catch  the  people."  The  Chinese  reverence  for  learn 
ing  has  always  been  second  to  no  other  nation  and 
although  the  old  stories  about  the  foreign  mission 
aries  kidnapping  little  children  to  take  out  their 


Development  in  Educational  Work  95 

eyes  for  the  gloss  for  foreign  photographs,  and  simi 
lar  wild  tales  prevailed,  there  were  always  some  who 
would  run  the  risk  and  send  their  children  to  the 
foreign  school  where  instruction  was  free  and  thor 
ough.  Through  these  schools  the  Church  was  usu 
ally  introduced  to  a  new  neighborhood  and  adults 
would  be  attracted  through  the  children.  So  they 
made  a  vital  point  of  contact  with  the  people.  From 
these  parochial  day  schools  the  most  promising  boys 
were  selected  for  further  instruction  in  Shanghai 
and  many  of  the  most  gifted  and  zealous  workers 
for  Christ  were  men  who  had,  as  heathen  lads,  been 
first  brought  in  touch  with  the  Church  through  the 
little  school  room  in  some  rented  native  house. 


THE    STRUGGLE    TO    SURVIVE    IN 
WUCHANG 

1879-1881 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    STRUGGLE    TO    SURVIVE    IN 
WUCHANG 

1879-1881 

Dark  Days  Upriver.  While"  the  work  was 
opening  up  thus  brightly  in  Shanghai  at  the  close  of 
the  '70's,  the  outlook  was  dark  and  unpromising  at 
the  other  foreign-manned  station,  Wuchang.  In 
Hankow  there  was  no  foreign  missionary  at  St. 
Paul's  Chapel  and  the  work  was  with  difficulty  kept 
together.  Across  the  river  the  work  in  Wuchang 
was  big  with  possibilities  but  the  little  staff  of 
laborers  was  dwindling.  Dr.  Albert  C.  Bunn  and 
his  wife  had,  since  1874,  been  enthusiastically 
identified  with  a  rapidly  growing  medical  work. 
He  won  many  friends  for  the  Mission  and  this 
branch  of  mission  activity  under  his  able  care 
was  proving  how  very  valuable  it  was  as  a 
means  of  bringing  the  Message  to  bear  upon  the 
masses  who  otherwise  stood  aloof  from  it.  Some 
one  has  said  that  China  was  opened  at  the  point  of 
the  lancet.  Certainly  the  work  of  Dr.  Bunn  did 
much  to  disarm  prejudice  and  win  a  hearing  for  the 
missionaries.  It  was  therefore  a  great  disappoint 
ment  when  after  the  death  of  his  wife  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  America  with  his  very  sick 

99 


ioo         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

little  son.  His  withdrawal  followed  close  upon  the 
prolonged  illnesses  and  retirement  of  Mrs.  Hoyt 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Boone.  Again,  after  eleven  years 
service  in  Wuchang  and  Hankow,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Yen  had  been  transferred  to  the  new  work  at  St. 
John's  College  for  which  he  was  specially  qualified 
and  greatly  needed  at  the  time  of  its  organization. 
This  left  the  Rev.  S.  R.  J.  Hoyt  alone  in  Wuchang 
and  in  a  few  months  he  would  return  to  America. 
He  had  been  in  China  for  several  years  before  this 
until  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from  the  field  because 
of  his  wife's  ill-health  there.  But  when  Wuchang 
was  left  without  pastoral  oversight,  leaving  his 
invalided  wife  in  America  he  bravely  went  back  to 
China  to  hold  the  fort  for  two  years  until  someone 
could  be  found  to  come  out  permanently.  Now, 
alone  at  his  station,  with  no  prospect  of  relief  or  of 
anyone  to  take  up  the  work  which  he  would  soon 
be  obliged  to  lay  down,  Mr.  Hoyt  wrote  long 
earnest  letters  to  the  Foreign  Committee  urging  re 
inforcements. 

One  wonders  how  the  pathos  of  those  letters 
could  have  failed  to  arouse  the  Church  at  home, 
All  the  missionaries  in  China  recognized  the 
importance  of  the  Wuchang-Hankow  center.1  Mr. 
Hoyt  in  pressing  its  claims  wrote:  "Shanghai 
and  Hankow  are  alike  great  centers  of  commerce 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  Wuchang  and  Hankow  are  twin 
cities  separated  only  by  the  Yangtse  river,  while  just  across 
the  narrower  Han  river  is  the  city  of  Han  Yang — making 
altogether  one  of  the  great  centers  of  population  in  China. 
This  is  now  a  strong  center  of  our  mission  work. 


The  Struggle  to  Survive  in  Wuchang      101 

and  this  is  especially  a  center  of  native  enterprise. 
More  native  business  is  done  at  this  point  than  at 
any  other  and  so,  besides  a  million  resident  citi 
zens,  we  have  an  immense  floating  population.  Our 
language  is  understood  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  an  influence  is,  and  is  to  be,  exerted  here  equal 
to  none.  Rather  than  be  hesitating  or  doubtful 
about  sustaining  her  work  here,  our  Church  should 
be  pushing  forward  to  make  this,  at  an  early  day,  a 
Diocese  with  a  Bishop  and  a  sufficient  staff  of  co- 
workers  of  its  own.  Does  our  Church  seek  a  larger 
field  in  which  to  labor  for  her  Lord?  Here  is  one 
ready  for  the  harvesters;  the  implements  are  rust 
ing  for  want  of  hands  to  use  them." 

It  was  pathetically  true.  There  were,  at  Wuchang, 
boarding  and  day  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  three 
chapels,  a  hospital  and  a  dispensary.  In  these  last 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Hoyt  was,  with  two  native  partly 
trained  assistants,  keeping  up  medical  work  in  addi 
tion  to  his  many  other  duties.  All  this  bade  fair  to 
be  left  idle  and  fallow  with  the  fifty  communicants 
and  four  candidates  for  Holy  Orders  uncared  for 
unless  the  Church  at  home  provided  the  means  to 
send  out  some  of  the  men  who  stood  ready  to  come. 
There  was  no  dearth  of  applicants  at  the  time.  At 
a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Missions  a  few  months 
before  it  was  stated  that  there  were  fourteen  candi 
dates  for  foreign  mission  work,  but  with  the  limited 
means  at  their  disposal  it  was  possible  to  make  one 
appointment  only  and  that  to  Japan.  The  mission 
aries  at  Wuchang  had  already  waited  eight  years 


102        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

for  a  church.  It  was  impossible  to  enlarge  the  little 
shanty  which  all  that  time  had  been  a  substitute  for 
one.  No  wonder  Mr.  Hoyt  sent  home  the  challenge : 
"Our  Church  is  losing  grace  by  its  lukewarmness." 
It  is  as  true  of  the  Church  as  of  an  individual.  No 
man  having  put  his  hand  to  the  plow  and  looking 
back  is  fit  for  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

There  is  something  heroic  about  the  lonely  figure 
of  Mr.  Hoyt  there  at  his  post  in  a  great  heathen  city 
realizing  the  opportunities  for  great  victories  for  the 
Cross — watching  one  by  one  his  fellow  workers 
forced  to  lay  down  their  arms  of  war  at  the  call  of 
death  or  disease — until  it  looked  as  if  there  was  not 
only  to  be  no  advance  forward  but  as  if  the  Church 
must  lose  what  little  ground  she  had  gained  after 
twelve  years  of  earnest  struggling  service.  But  the 
spirit  of  the  man  was  shown  in  his  letter  to  the  Board 
Secretary:  "Do  not  think  that  I  feel  discouraged. 
I  shall  not  lose  my  faith  in  my  Church  until  she  has 
proved  herself  callous.  Even  then,  doubtless  I 
should  be  more  disposed  to  question  my  own  right 
of  judging.  I  believe  God  will  answer  the  prayers 
of  those  who  are  earnestly  supplicating  Him.  Per 
haps  some  of  us  are  too  prone  to  pray  to  the  Church, 
rather  than  to  God,  to  supply  our  needs;  but  there 
are,  I  am  sure,  in  the  Fold  of  Christ,  many  who  pray 
to  God  to  breathe  the  breath  of  life  into  the  body  of 
His  creation  and  their  prayer  will  be  heard." 

So  hung  the  life  of  the  Church  in  Central  China 
by  a  single  thread.  Almost  wiped  out  as  in  other 


The  Struggle  to  Survive  in  Wuchang      103 

parts  of  the  world  again  and  again,  yet  it  could  not 
die,  for  unlike  the  other  Chinese  religions  by  which 
it  was  surrounded,  it  held  forth  not  doctrine  alone 
but  Life. 

Meanwhile  the  pleading  call  from  the  field  was 
for  "a  double  team  to  pull  the  heavy  load"  at 
Wuchang,  and  in  response  to  the  Church's  appeal  to 
save  Wuchang,  the  Woman's  Auxiliary,  to  its  great 
honor  be  it  said,  raised  the  money  to  send  out  a  new 
worker. 

Sayres  Saves  the  Day.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Sayres,  one 
of  the  new  men  in  Shanghai,  went  with  his  wife  to 
Wuchang  in  the  summer  of  1879  for  a  holiday  trip 
by  steamer  up  the  Yangtse.  They  were  greatly 
impressed  by  the  urgency  of  the  situation  in  view 
of  Mr.  Hoyt's  approaching  departure,  and  by  the 
encouraging  outlook  in  Wuchang  and  its  possi 
bility  for  development  into  a  strong  center.  The 
result  was  that  at  their  own  earnest  request  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sayres  were  transferred  to  the  upriver 
station  to  work  in  company  with  an  expected  recruit 
who  had  offered  himself.  In  addition  to  these  new 
workers  a  consecrated  communicant  in  America 
had  assumed  the  continuous  support  of  a  lady 
teacher  for  the  Jane  Bohlen  School  for  girls,  so  long 
without  a  head.  Miss  Josephine  Roberts  of  Brook 
lyn,  New  York,  (afterwards  Mrs.  F.  R.  Graves,) 
who  had  been  under  appointment  for  some  time 
waiting  the  raising  of  the  necessary  funds,  was  sent 
out  to  take  charge  of  this  neglected  work  for  girls. 


104         Tne  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Brighter  days  seemed  about  to  dawn  for  Wuchang. 
Yet  in  spite  of  all  the  encouragements  immediately 
in  prospect  that  important  station  had  yet  to 
undergo  many  trials  and  discouragements  and  was 
to  wait  eighteen  years  longer  before  it  was  ade 
quately  manned. 

Mr.  Hoyt  Retires.  It  was  with  a  sad  heart  that 
Mr.  Hoyt  left  Wuchang  in  March  after  ten  years  of 
service  at  that  center.  "Dear  old  Wuchang,"  he 
had  written  a  few  weeks  before,  "my  heart  is  already 
beginning  to  ache  at  the  thought  that  I  shall  have 
to  leave  it  so  soon."  The  Spirit  of  Missions  in  com 
menting  on  it  said :  "Surely  such  devotion  as  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hoyt  have  shown  and  the  cause  to  which 
in  good  faith  they  consecrated  and  would  have  given 
their  lives  except  for  providential  circumstances, 
should  never  cease  to  be  remembered  and  appre 
ciated  by  this  Church.  Where,  humanly  speaking, 
would  this  grand  work  have  been  had  not  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hoyt  offered  two  years  ago  with  the  consent  of 
his  devoted  wife  to  leave  her  and  all  that  he  held 
dear  and  go  back  to  China  to  'stand  in  the  Gap/  " 

Mr.  Say  res  took  vigorous  hold  of  the  work  laid 
on  his  willing  shoulders.  A  heavy  bereavement  fell 
upon  him  within  two  months  after  his  reaching  his 
new  station  in  the  death  of  his  wife,  but  he  pressed 
bravely  onward.  "Mr.  Sayres  feels  that  his  life  is 
now  more  than  ever  consecrated  to  the  work  here," 
wrote  Mr.  Hoyt  just  before  his  departure.  Fortu 
nately  there  was  a  growing  and  encouraging  work 
to  absorb  him.  His  letters  to  America  were  full  of 


The  Struggle  to  Survive  in  Wuchang       105 

enthusiasm  and  consecration  and  his  days  were  busy 
and  full.  He  writes:  "At  every  communion  we 
have  had  twenty  and  forty  communicants  whereas 
it  is  only  six  years  ago  that  there  were  but  seven 
communicants."  The  Bishop  came  in  March  and 
confirmed  a  class  of  forty-three  and  the  Christians 
seemed  very  much  in  earnest  and  zealous  for  Christ. 
"The  prosperity  of  the  Mission  at  Wuchang,"  wrote 
Mrs.  Schereschewsky,  "is  said  to  be  thriving  greatly, 
under  God,  due  to  the  exertions  of  the  converts  them 
selves  to  tell  the  good  news  to  others."  Mr.  Sayres 
tells  of  his  own  servant  who  every  Sunday  on  his 
time  off  went  about  the  city  to  the  temples,  tea 
houses  and  places  of  public  resort,  distributing  tracts 
which  he  had  purchased  from  Shanghai  with  his  own 
small  wages.  "When  he  comes  back  toward  even 
ing,"  Mr.  Sayres  wrote,  "he  says  not  a  word  about 
his  doings  unless  I  ask  him,  he  evidently  does  not 
do  it  for  the  sake  of  my  approval  but  from  a  higher 
motive.  The  next  day  he  goes  about  his  work  in  a 
sober,  matter  of  fact  way  and  stays  at  it  till  the  next 
Sunday." 

Character  of  the  Converts.  "This  is  one  of  the 
evidences  of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  among  the 
people  here.  It  is  so  blessed  to  be  able  to  see  the 
miracles  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  working  every  day, 
in  changing  the  hearts  of  these  people,  making  a 
new  light  to  shine  in  their  faces,  and  high  aims,  holy 
works,  and  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  to  be  manifest  in 
the  lives  of  these  men  who  a  short  time  ago  were 
idol  worshippers  or  worse.  It  would  convince  the 


106         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

most  skeptical,  I  am  sure,  of  the  truth  of  religion  if 
they  could  be  here  and  see  these  people,  could  watch 
the  change  coming  over  them  and  the  new  life 
breaking  forth  in  them  and  then  compare  them  with 
the  people  still  outside. 

"Only  the  other  day  a  man  newly  baptized  came 
to  me  to  express  his  joy  and  his  thankfulness.  His 
face  was  so  happy  and  the  tears  were  in  his  eyes 
and  his  voice  trenrbled  while  he  told  me,  as  he 
pointed  to  his  heart,  that  'the  Holy  Spirit  is  true ;  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  true.  It  is  all  true.' " 


CHANGING    ATTITUDE    TOWARDS 
FOREIGNERS 

1881-1884 


CHAPTER  III 

CHANGING    ATTITUDE    TOWARDS 
FOREIGNERS 

1881-1884 

Introduction  of  English  in  the  Higher  Schools. 

A  better  feeling  toward  foreigners  made  the  out 
look  brighter  to  the  missionaries  in  the  early  80's. 
It  was  still  impossible  to  enter  many  places,  such  as 
Tai  Tsang  in  the  Shanghai  district  which  had  been 
selected  as  one  of  the  new  centers  of  dispensary  and 
evangelistic  work  under  the  Rev.  Mr.  Woo.  Land 
had  been  purchased  there  but  the  literati  and  others 
raised  such  a  disturbance  over  the  advent  of  the 
Church  that  the  Mission  was  obliged  to  yield  up 
the  land  and  retire.  Missionaries  were  still  freely 
called  "foreign  devils"  and  "foreign  hags"  and  were 
to  be  accosted  so  in  the  streets  for  many  years  to 
come,  but  in  the  older  centers  of  work  at  least  the 
missionaries  were  conscious  of  a  changing  attitude 
and  an  increasing  use  of  articles  of  foreign  manufac 
ture  such  as  cloth,  clocks,  lamps  (to  replace  the 
small  cup  of  native  oil  with  a  wick  stuck  in  it)  was 
evidenced  by  the  number  of  natives  selling  these 
things.  There  was  also  a  universal  desire  springing 

109 


no         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

up  in  places  like  Wuchang,  Hankow  and  Shanghai 
to  learn  the  English  language.  The  alert  Chinese 
in  these  places  saw  the  opportunities  a  knowledge 
of  English  would  bring  for  business  with  the  Eng 
lish  and  American  merchants  resident  in  the  for 
eign  concessions  in  the  port  cities.  The  Mission 
was  wise  enough  to  see  and  use  the  opportunity  of 
making  the  teaching  of  the  English  language  in  St. 
John's  College  and  Boone  School  a  point  of  contact 
with  the  Chinese  they  wanted  to  reach.  Accord 
ingly  a  department  of  English  was  added  to  St. 
John's.  This  was  an  important  step  to  take.  It  has 
always  been  a  debated  question  in  Mission  circles 
whether  the  introduction  of  English  in  the  schools 
is  a  wise  thing  or  not.  There  were  many  things  to 
be  said  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  The  principal 
objection  to  its  use  was  that  it  attracted  boys  to  the 
Mission  simply  for  the  sake  of  getting  a  language 
enabling  them  to  secure  good  positions  in  the  busi 
ness  world  and  that  the  schools  would  fail  to  supply 
native  Christian  workers  as  they  would  all  be 
diverted  to  money  getting.  There  was  this  real 
danger  and  again  and  again  missionaries  have  been 
greatly  disappointed  in  having  some  promising 
young  candidate  for  the  ministry  go  off  to  take  a 
position  with  larger  pay  in  post  office,  government 
or  commercial  employ  because  of  his  knowledge  of 
English.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  brought  a  large 
number  of  young  men  to  the  Mission  institutions — 
many  of  whom  became  converted  and  some  of  whom 
gave  up  cherished  prospects  of  a  business  career  in 


Changing  Attitude  Towards  Foreigners     III 

order  to  serve  the  Church  they  had  come  to  love, 
although  they  had  entered  the  school  purposely  to 
fit  themselves  for  a  commercial  life.  Then  again 
the  teaching  of  English  opened  up  such  a  wider 
reaching  knowledge  of  the  Western  world  to  the 
student  and  especially  gave  the  candidate  in  theol 
ogy  and  medicine  the  access  to  so  many  valuable 
books  that  most  of  the  Missions  gradually  have 
come  to  the  point  of  having  English  taught  in  their 
higher  schools,  colleges  and  professional  schools. 
The  training  schools  for  evangelists  and  Bible 
women  however  have  still  continued  to  use  the 
Chinese  language  only.  With  the  introduction  of 
English  teaching  at  St.  John's  College  there  arose 
an  eager  demand  on  the  part  of  prosperous  Shang 
hai  merchants  to  have  their  sons  educated  there  and 
a  paying  department  was  added  to  the  free  scholar 
ships  in  1880.  With  this  step  St.  John's  larger 
sphere  of  usefulness  began. 

A  Movement  Toward  Reform.  The  desire  for 
English  in  China  came  some  time  in  advance  of  the 
later  wonderful  and  widespread  movement  in  favor 
of  the  substitution  of  Western  arts  and  sciences 
for  the  old  Chinese  classics  as  the  basis  of  the  Chi 
nese  educational  system.  But  a  deeper  movement 
than  simply  the  desire  to  know  the  English  lan 
guage  was  already  beginning  to  make  itself  felt.  As 
a  result  of  the  defeats  at  the  hands  of  the  English 
and  French  in  the  last  two  decades  many  of  the 
Chinese  leaders  were  coming  to  see  that  there  was 
something  for  the  nation  to  learn  from  foreigners. 


112         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

The  first  lesson  learned  was  that  bows  and  arrows 
and  bamboo  spears  were  not  equal  to  foreign  imple 
ments  of  war,  and  that  the  old  Chinese  war  junks 
were  powerless  before  a  modern  war  vessel.  Arse 
nals  and  navy  yards  were  supplied  with  machinery 
from  foreign  countries  and  soldiers  were  drilled  by 
foreign  military  officers.  With  all  this  there  was 
gradually  growing  a  desire  for  Western  arts  and 
sciences.  The  movement  was  however  to  receive 
many  setbacks.  Yung  Wing,  educated  at  a  Mission 
school  in  China  and  at  Yale  College,  received  in 
1872  permission  to  take  a  hundred  youths  to  the 
United  States  for  an  American  education.  Before 
long  they  were  all  recalled  and  many  years  after  the 
policy  of  reaction  culminated  in  the  coup  d'etat  of 
1898  by  which  the  progressive  young  Emperor  was 
dethroned  by  the  conservative  Manchus,  but  in  spite 
of  all  these  opposing  influences  the  movement  toward 
reform  in  national  life  was  gathering  impetus  all 
the  time. 

At  the  time  St.  John's  was  established  at  Jess- 
field  there  were  already  marked  indications  of  an 
intellectual  Renaissance.  There  was  a  great  demand 
for  the  works  on  astronomy,  geography,  history, 
medicine  and  international  law,  prepared  by  mis 
sionaries.  The  educated  Christian  Chinese  and  for 
eign  missionaries  were  quick  to  catch  the  signifi 
cance  of  this  desire  and  the  opportunity  it  pre 
sented  to  the  Christian  Church  and  for  this  reason 
Bishop  Schereschewsky  was  most  anxious  to  estab 
lish  a  Science  department  at  St.  John's. 


THE  CREEK  WHICH  MAKES  ST.  JOHN'S  UNIVERSITY  CAMPUS 

A  PENINSULA 
THE  MAIN   ENTRANCE  TO  THE  MISSION  COMPOUND,   WUSIH 


Changing  Attitude  Towards  Foreigners     113 

St.  Mary's  School.  Another  step  forward  was  the 
opening  of  St.  Mary's  School  for  girls  at  Jessfield 
near  St.  John's.  It  had  been  the  Bishop's  intention 
from  the  time  of  opening  the  college  to  make  the 
new  property  a  complete  educational  center  by  hav 
ing  a  girls'  boarding  school  there  also.  This  was 
accomplished  in  1881,  by  moving  the  Emma  Jones 
and  the  Bridgman  Memorial  Schools  and  combin 
ing  them  under  one  roof  in  the  new  St.  Mary's 
under  the  efficient  charge  of  Miss  Wong  (afterward 
Mrs.  F.  L.  H.  Pott),  daughter  of  the  senior  pres 
byter  of  the  Mission.  The  new  building  for  this 
combined  school  was  remarkably  well  adapted  for 
its  purpose  and  was  in  fact  at  that  time  the  best 
school  building  in  the  Mission. 

Effect  of  Christian  Education  on  Women  and 
Girls  in  China.  Mrs.  W.  J.  Boone  writing  home  of 
the  bright  and  happy  faces  of  the  girls  at  St.  Mary's 
School  told  of  their  love  for  the  School  being  such 
that  when  the  summer  holidays  came  they  wanted 
to  go  home  for  a  few  days  only  and  then  return  to 
the  school  for  the  remainder  of  the  vacation.  She 
continues :  "One  can  have  no  conception  of  the  dif 
ference  Christian  education  makes  in  the  faces  of 
girls  and  women.  The  heathen  women  we  see 
around  us  have  faces  utterly  devoid  of  expression, 
at  the  same  time  not  being  the  faces  of  idiots.  It  is 
not  so  with  the  men,  and  so  it  can  only  be  their  lack 
of  knowledge  that  makes  the  difference.  As  a  rule 
the  women  know  absolutely  nothing.  If  poor  they 
work  in  the  fields,  if  rich  at  embroidery,  etc.  Heath- 


114         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

enism  can  never  be  destroyed  until  the  women  are 
converted." a 

Bishop  Schereschewsky's  Illness.  Cheering  news 
came  from  home  that  two  more  faithful  stewards  of 
their  Master  had  each  decided  to  make  investments 
for  Him  in  China  in  the  erection  of  churches  where 
His  message  might  be  proclaimed.  One  of  these 
churches  was  to  be  the  College  Chapel  at  St.  John's 
and  another,  given  by  a  communicant  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Germantown,  was  to  meet  a  long  felt 
want  by  providing  for  the  growing  congregation  at 
Wuchang.  Partly  to  look  after  the  erection  of  this 
building  which  he  designed  and  partly  to  assist  Mr. 
Sayres  and  Miss  Roberts  in  this  station,  Bishop 
Schereschewsky  with  his  family  moved  to  Wuchang 
for  the  winter  of  1880-81.  The  work  of  building 
progressed  very  slowly  and  the  Bishop  found  his 
presence  so  greatly  needed  that  he  remained  on 
throughout  the  next  spring  and  summer.  It  was 
here  on  August  4th  that  there  came  the  sunstroke 
which  paralyzed  and  crippled  him  for  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life  and  laid  him  aside  from  the  active 
duties  of  the  Episcopate  while  it  gave  the  Church 
his  translation  of  the  entire  Bible  into  easy  Wenli, 
the  literary  language  of  all  China.  His  health  had 
been  greatly  impaired  by  overwork  and  anxiety — 
always  the  portion  of  our  missionary  bishops — and 
he  was  prostrated  while  attending  to  his  duties  in 
Wuchang  during  its  terrible  August  heat.  For  a 
long  time  he  was  unable  to  move  at  all  and  only 

1  Spirit  of  Missions-— 1883,  p.  51. 


Changing  Attitude  Towards  Foreigners     115 

articulated  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  He  was 
taken  to  specialists  in  Europe  as  soon  as  he  could 
travel  with  some  degree  of  convenience,  but  while 
he  improved  sufficiently  to  use  his  ringers  on  the 
typewriter  by  which  he  performed  his  herculean 
tasks,  he  never  recovered. 

The  blow  fell  crushingly  on  the  little  band  of 
workers  in  Wuchang  and  Shanghai  by  whom  the 
Bishop  was  greatly  beloved.  A  few  months  before 
they  had  said  good-bye  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nelson  and 
Miss  Nelson,  when,  after  thirty  years  of  faithful  ser 
vice,  Dr.  Nelson  was  obliged  to  leave  the  Mission 
on  account  of  the  serious  illness  of  his  wife,  and  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates  who  were  obliged  to  leave 
China  because  of  Mr.  Bates'  complete  break 
down,  and  now  the  remaining  few  were  suddenly 
deprived  of  their  leader. 

Change  in  Requirements  for  Baptism.  Shortly 
before  his  illness  the  Bishop  made  an  important 
change  in  regard  to  candidates  for  Baptism.  It 
was  found  that  in  order  to  insure  the  sincerity 
of  the  convert  and  to  give  time  for  due  instruc 
tion  there  should  be  a  considerable  lapse  of  time 
between  the  first  expression  of  his  desire  for 
Baptism  and  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament. 
The  candidate  was  now  required  to  be  enrolled  as 
an  enquirer  for  six  months  at  the  end  of  which  time 
he  was,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  Church, 
formally  admitted  as  a  Catechumen.  Then  for  six 
months  or  a  year  (it  finally  became  definitely  fixed 
as  a  year)  he  was  under  further  instruction  at  the 


Ii6         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

end  of  which  time  if  he  had  been  found  faithful  and 
sincere  and  actuated  by  no  unworthy  motives,  he 
was  admitted  to  Holy  Baptism.1 

Consecration  of  Church  of  the  Holy  Nativity. 
Christmas  Day,  1881,  was  a  red  letter  day  for  the 
Christians  at  Hankow  and  Wuchang,  for  the  beauti 
ful  new  Church  of  the  Nativity  upon  which  Bishop 
Schereschewsky  had  bestowed  so  much  care  was 
formally  opened  and  publicly  used  for  the  first  time. 
The  new  missionary,  the  Rev.  F.  R.  Graves,  whose 
coming  had  so  gladdened  the  hearts  of  the  waiting 
workers  in  Shanghai  and  Wuchang,  was  there  for 
the  service  and  the  procession  of  school  boys  and 
candidates  for  Holy  Orders  could  sing,  with  the 
heartiness  and  happiness  of  the  fulfillment  of  a  long 
deferred  hope,  "I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me 
Let  us  go  into  the  house  of  the  Lord."  At  the  ser 
vices  that  day  twenty-five  persons  were  baptized. 

Extension  of  the  Work.  In  the  meantime  (1881) 
Mr.  Sayres  was  lengthening  the  cords  as  well  as 
strengthening  the  stakes.  The  work  across  the 
river  in  Hankow  was  being  reinforced.  The  newly 
ordained  deacon,  Mr.  Yang,  was  placed  in  charge, 
together  with  his  son,  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders. 
A  day  school  was  reopened  and  there  were  good 
prospects  of  getting  back  the  scattered  little  con- 

xThis  system  has  been  regularly  carried  out  since  in  the 
China  Mission  with  certain  exceptions,  such  as  in  case  of  seri 
ous  illness  or  of  college  students  who  have  been  long  under 
Christian  instruction.  Since  the  Revolution  the  period  of 
probation  may  be  shortened  at  the  discretion  of  examining 
presbyters. 


Changing  Attitude  Towards  Foreigners     117 

gregation.  Two  outstations  were  opened,  the  only 
ones  in  the  upriver  district.  In  those  days  this  was 
not  an  easy  undertaking  as  often  great  difficulty  was 
experienced  in  renting  a  house.  And  although  the 
foreigner  kept  in  the  background  and  a  native  evan 
gelist  was  sent,  the  people  were  suspicious  of  their 
own  countryman  from  another  part  of  the  country 
coming  to  preach  doctrines  they  had  never  heard 
of  before.  As  Mr.  Sayres  wrote  home  of  the  station 
at  Lung  Hwa  Ngan:  "The  people  are  afraid  that 
the  new  religion  may  be  one  not  permitted  by  law, 
for  professing  which  they  may  some  day  have  to 
suffer  death  or  be  subject  to  all  sorts  of  annoyances 
and  persecutions  at  the  hands  of  bad  men  of  the 
neighborhood  who  may  make  any  affiliation  with  the 
new  religion  a  pretext  for  working  out  their  own 
designs."  This  attack  on  Christians  by  evilly  dis 
posed  men  has  happened  again  and  again  in  the 
outstations.  On  the  other  hand  the  Christians  in 
these  stations  removed  from  the  contaminating 
influences  of  big  cities  and  especially  from  the  bad 
examples  of  foreigners  living  vicious  lives,  often 
made  the  heartiest  and  most  sincere  converts.  So 
in  spite  of  the  many  discouragements  there  was 
therefore  a  joy  to  the  missionary  in  the  country 
work  that  he  did  not  find  in  the  port  cities.  The 
work  in  the  latter  was  more  important  but  slower 
and  more  discouraging.  Often  however  those  con 
verted  in  the  cities  would  return  to  their  country 
homes  and  be  the  first  messengers  of  the  Gospel  in 
a  new  region.  Such  a  one  was  a  convert  of  whom 


n8         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Mr.  Sayres  wrote  in  1881 :  "This  remarkable 
woman  of  some  sixty  years  is  of  a  respectable  fam 
ily,  intelligent  and  during  most  of  her  life  a  believer 
in  one  of  the  Buddhist  sects.  She  was  greatly 
addicted  to  heathen  rites,  but  she  has  left  them  all 
now  and  without  any  hope  of  temporal  gain  goes 
back  to  certain  persecution  in  her  country  home."  : 

Growth  of  Boone  School.  The  importance  of 
developing  Boone  School  at  Wuchang  was  being 
more  and  more  felt.  In  pursuance  of  the  Mission's 
general  policy  it  was  recognized  to  be  the  most 
important  institution  in  the  upriver  district,  for  in  it 
lay  the  hope  of  the  future  supply  of  native  clergy 
for  Central  China.  Mr.  Sayres  in  his  plans  for  the 
general  development  of  the  Wuchang-Hankow 
work  was  appealing  for  its  enlargement.  There 
were  thirty  boys  in  it  when  he  first  went  to 
Wuchang,  but  it  was  as  easy  to  get  three  hundred 
as  thirty.  The  need  was  especially  felt  as  the  care 
ful  training  of  boys  either  for  mission  work  or  for 
general  usefulness  in  life  was  neglected  by  the  other 
missions  and  there  was  no  really  high  grade  mis 
sion  school  in  that  part  of  China.  This  omission  by 
the  other  missions  was  purposely  made  as  they  did 
not  then  believe  in  the  practical  utility  of  educa 
tional  institutions  as  an  aid  to  the  spread  of  the 
Church.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  the  main  reliance 
of  the  Romanists  and  it  was  felt  by  our  missionaries 
in  Wuchang  that  here  was  an  open  field  of  opportu 
nity  that  the  Church  could  ill  afford  to  neglect. 

*  Spirit  of  Missions,  1881,  p.  315. 


Changing  Attitude  Towards  Foreigners     119 

In  1882,  Mr.  Herbert  Sowerby  and  his  wife  joined 
the  Mission  Staff.  They  had  been  previously  con 
nected  with  another  mission  and  had  a  valuable 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language  and  people  and 
were  able  to  be  of  immediate  service  in  the  needy 
field  at  Wuchang.  Mr.  Sowerby  was  placed  in 
charge  of  Boone  School  and  under  his  able  manage 
ment  the  school  improved  greatly.  The  old  build 
ing  was  torn  down  and  rebuilt  and  a  brighter  day 
began  to  dawn  for  an  institution  which  was  to  be 
known  later  as  Boone  University,  the  finest  educa 
tional  institution  in  Central  China.  But  while  the 
outlook  became  thus  more  promising  for  Boone, 
the  Jane  Bohlen  School  for  girls  was  to  suffer 
another  setback  in  its  checkered  career.  The  new 
matron,  Miss  Boyd,  died  soon  after  reaching  her 
station  and  it  was  decided  to  close  the  school  for 
a  time  and  transfer  Miss  Roberts  to  the  work  in 
Jessfield.  With  the  presence  of  two  recruits  in 
Wuchang,  Mr.  Graves  and  Mr.  Sowerby,  Mr.  Sayres 
was  able  to  return  to  his  work  in  Shanghai. 

Retirement  of  Bishop  Schereschewsky.  Bishop 
Schereschewsky  had  been  taken  to  Europe  after  his 
serious  illness  in  Wuchang  but  the  hope  to  which 
the  Church  clung  that  he  might  be  able  to  return  to 
his  work  in  vigor  was  doomed  to  a  sad  disappoint 
ment.  When  at  last  the  conviction  deepened  to 
him  that  never  again  would  he  be  able  to  sufficiently 
regain  the  use  of  his  limbs  to  engage  in  the  active 
duties  of  the  Episcopate,  he  resigned  his  jurisdic 
tion.  He  wished  it  distinctly  understood  that  he 


120         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

"did  not  resign  as  a  missionary"  and  that  he  hoped 
to  return  to  China  as  a  translator.  For  this  work  he 
was  unusually  qualified,  and  he  had  already  trans 
lated  the  entire  Old  Testament  and  the  Prayer  Book 
into  Mandarin  and  the  latter  into  easy  Wenli  as 
well.  His  short  episcopate  had  been  marked  by  a 
high  sense  of  duty  and  of  energetic  effort  for  the 
welfare  of  China  and  the  Church,  and  had  greatly 
set  forward  the  development  of  the  policies  of  the 
Mission  work,  but  his  name  especially  is  associated 
with  the  establishment  of  St.  John's  College. 

St.  Luke's  Hospital.  Another  strong  feature  of 
the  Mission  work,  St.  Luke's  Hospital  in  Shanghai, 
had  been  transferred  from  the  small  and  incon 
venient  building  in  which  it  had  been  housed  to  new 
and  more  commodious  quarters.  The  development 
of  this  splendid  institution  was  chiefly  the  work  of 
one  man,  Dr.  Henry  W.  Boone,  who  came  out  in 
1881.  The  funds  for  enlargement  were  largely  from 
the  Chinese  raised  especially  through  the  energetic 
assistance  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Woo.  With  this  aid  and 
the  gift  of  their  property  to  the  Mission  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  Gutzlaff  Hospital  in  Shanghai,  the 
triangular  block  containing  a  good  dwelling  house 
which  became  the  Hospital  was  purchased  and  an 
additional  ward  erected.  Standing  in  the  busy  busi 
ness  section  of  the  town  near  the  police  headquar 
ters  and  the  wharves  it  was  in  a  position  to  receive 
a  great  number  of  accident  cases.  Its  fame  soon 
spread  and  drew  patients  from  as  far  as  two  hun 
dred  miles.  In  addition,  Dr.  Boone  was  in  charge 


Changing  Attitude  Towards  Foreigners     121 

of  dispensaries  at  Jessfield  and  outstations.  In  the 
year  1884  the  total  number  of  cases  treated  in  these 
places  was  over  forty-one  thousand.  Thus  rapidly 
did  the  work  spread  and  the  message  of  the  Good 
Samaritan  diffuse  itself  from  this  great  center. 

General  State  of  the  Work.  Dr.  Boone  writing 
home  of  the  general  state  of  the  mission  work  at 
the  time  of  the  retirement  of  Bishop  Schereschewsky 
and  speaking  of  the  patient  labors  of  his  fellow 
workers  and  their  predecessors  said: 

"Their  toil  has  not  been  unrewarded.  If  the  Com 
mittee  could  only  come  here  and  see  the  admirable 
College,  the  perfection  of  Girls'  School,  the  earnest, 
Christian  native  clergy  and  catechists,  the  numerous 
schools  and  chapels,  and  the  small  but  devout  and 
growing  band  of  native  converts,  their  hearts  would 
be  cheered  by  the  spectacle.  One  by  one  the  gen 
tlemen  of  other  missions  I  have  met  have  told  me 
that  they  have  been  greatly  impressed  with  the 
excellence  of  our  work  as  a  whole,  and  see  much 
to  admire  and  imitate.  It  is  my  firm  conviction 
that  there  is  no  mission  in  China  working  on  a 
broader,  stronger  and  firmer  basis  than  ours,  and 
that  none  are  getting  better  results.  But  alas !  some 
other  missions  have  double,  treble  and  more  than 
treble  the  numbers  in  the  field  that  we  put  there." 


INTO  NEW  FIELDS 
1884-1886 


CHAPTER  IV 

INTO  NEW  FIELDS 

1884-1886 

Successor  to  Bishop  Schereschewsky.  The  elec 
tion  of  William  Jones  Boone,  as  Bishop  in  China, 
was  a  cause  of  general  rejoicing  to  the  friends  of  the 
China  Mission.  The  son  of  the  first  noble  Bishop, 
born  and  brought  up  in  the  field,  a  missionary  since 
1870,  a  man  of  wisdom,  experience  and  vision,  he 
was  well  qualified  for  the  important  work  of  plant 
ing  Christ's  Church  in  China's  vast  dominions.  He 
was  known  to  be  in  full  sympathy  with  the  policy 
of  the  higher  educational  work  which  had  been  made 
so  prominent,  while  experienced  in  the  more  directly 
evangelistic  agencies.  He  was  consecrated  on  Octo 
ber  28,  1884,  in  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Shanghai,  the 
city  in  which  he  had  been  born,  baptized,  confirmed 
and  ordained  to  the  priesthood.  The  Consecrator 
was  the  Right  Reverend  Channing  Moore  Will 
iams,  D.D.,  Missionary  Bishop  of  Yeddo  (Japan), 
who  had  exercised  Episcopal  oversight  of  the  field 
during  the  absence  of  Bishop  Schereschewsky, 
assisted  by  Bishop  Moule,  Bishop  of  the  Church  of 
England  in  Mid-China,  and  Bishop  Scott  of  the  same 
Church  in  North  China.  There  was  thus  united  in 

125 


126        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

this  function  the  two  largest  branches  of  the  Angli 
can  Communion. 

So  again  the  name  of  Boone  became  associated 
with  the  chief  share  in  responsibility  for  the 
Church's  Mission  in  China.  The  second  Bishop 
Boone  accepted  the  Bishopric  in  the  same  spirit  of 
service  and  self-sacrifice  that  he  had  accepted  the 
hard  lonely  years  of  missionary  labor  in  Wuchang 
and  later  the  charge  of  the  theological  department 
of  St.  John's  College.  In  the  land  of  his  birth  he 
elected  to  live  and  labor  while  life's  earthly  day 
lasted.  "As  in  the  case  of  the  Selwyns  in  the  Islands 
of  the  Southern  Seas,"  said  Bishop  Scott  in  the  Con 
secration  Sermon,  "so  here  in  the  Eastern  parts  of 
Asia,  the  mantle  has  descended  from  the  father,  and 
is  today  to  fall  on  the  shoulders  of  the  son." 

Extension  Planned.  The  new  Episcopate  was  to 
see  a  pushing  forward  of  the  work.  The  workers 
were  looking  toward  the  future  and  planning  to 
advance  the  Kingdom  into  new  localities.  The  two 
main  stations  strategically  chosen,  were  six  hun 
dred  miles  apart,  between  them  lay  the  vast  unoccu 
pied  region  of  the  valley  of  the  Yangtse  river  which 
had  been  apportioned  as  the  missionary  field  in 
China  of  the  American  Church.  The  Church  of 
England  by  mutual  agreement  with  our  Church  was 
in  the  North  and  South  and  we  were  responsible  for 
planting  the  Church  in  the  fertile,  populous  plains 
of  Central  China.  Immense  cities,  Chinkiang,  Nan 
king,  Wuhu,  Anking,  Kiukiang,  between  Shanghai 
and  Hankow,  were  beckoning  and  calling  for  help, 


Into  New  Fields  127 

while  beyond  there  were  the  cities  on  the  upper 
Yangtse  stretching  all  the  way  to  the  province  of 
Szchuen, — an  empire  in  itself.  As  yet  our  Mission 
had  made  no  attempt  to  reach  these  millions,  but 
the  workers  were  longing  and  praying  that  more 
laborers  might  be  sent  to  enter  this  vast  field  com 
mitted  to  the  Church  they  represented. 

This  burning  desire  of  the  missionaries  to  enter 
the  needy  fields  beyond  was  expressed  by  the  Rev. 
Sydney  C.  Partridge,  a  new  recruit,  who  while  on  a 
trip  to  the  Orient  had  seen  the  vast  opportunities  and 
thrown  in  his  lot  with  the  Mission  work.  "We  need 
more  men.  I  suppose  this  is  an  old  story  with  you,  and 
you  must  be  weary  of  this  cry  for  help  that  con 
tinually  comes  over  the  water,  but  we  cannot  help 
it.  When  we  see  the  possibilities  and  the  needs  we 
must  cry  out.  This  is  really  the  hardest  thing  we 
have  to  bear.  It  is  not  the  loneliness,  it  is  not  the 
long  separation  from  home,  it  is  not  the  difficulty 
and  petty  hardships  of  our  work;  it  is  to  see  and 
feel  the  great  need  that  is  around  us  and  to  realize 
that  we  can  do  so  little  to  meet  it.  If  there  is  any 
spot  on  earth  where  the  minister  of  Christ  needs 
patience  it  is  here  in  China.  If  he  can  only  live  a 
life  of  patience,  he  has  the  most  intensely  gratifying 
work  that  man  can  have  anywhere  in  the  world. 
*  *  *To  preach  the  Gospel  in  a  Christian  community 
at  home  is  a  great  privilege  and  calling,  but  to  be 
permitted  to  live  among  a  heathen  people  as  the 
representative  and  teacher  of  a  higher  religion  than 
theirs,  to  preach  the  great  truths  of  the  everlasting 


128         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Gospel  to  whom  they  are  a  new  and  not  an  old 
story — this  is  glorious,  beyond  anything  else." 

It  required  a  great  measure  of  faith  for  the  mis 
sionaries  to  take  this  attitude  toward  extension 
There  were,  including  the  stations  in  the  two  centers 
Shanghai  and  Wuchang,  thirty-five  outstations 
where  the  Gospel  was  being  preached  and  the 
Church  represented.  The  central  stations  where 
foreigners  must  necessarily  reside  were  under 
manned  and  the  Board  of  Managers  was  then  as 
now  with  difficulty  securing  contributions  for  the 
existing  work.  But  even  with  this  shortage  of  men 
and  money  it  never  has  been  the  policy  of  the 
Church  to  tarry  at  its  first  centers  until  the  work 
was  perfected  there. 

Chinkiang  Opened.  The  first  important  city  on 
the  Yangtse  river  to  be  occupied  was  Chinkiang. 
This  was  the  nearest  to  Shanghai  of  the  great  river 
cities,  being  distant  about  eighteen  hours  by  steam 
boat.  Here  was  sent  the  zealous  Mr.  Sayres  to  re 
side  and  be  in  charge  of  the  new  work,  assisted  by 
the  recently  ordained  deacon  Kwei  Mei  Peng.  Chin 
kiang  had  a  handful  of  resident  foreigners  engaged 
in  business  and  in  consular  offices,  and  an  immense 
native  population.  The  Grand  Canal  that  runs  from 
North  China  to  Hangchow  crosses  the  great  river 
at  this  point  and  made  the  city  an  important  center 
of  trade.  A  house  was  rented  for  use  as  a  preach 
ing  hall  and  in  this  as  well  as  out  on  the  busy  street 
itself,  as  opportunity  offered,  the  missionaries  set 
forth  the  Saviour  of  men.  "It  appeals  to  me 


Into  New  Fields  129 

strongly,"  wrote  Mr.  Sayres  from  his  new  station, 
"to  see  these  thousands  and  thousands  of  heathen 
who  know  nothing  of  God  and  the  future  life.  To 
save  one  of  their  souls  ought  to  be  reward  great 
enough  to  repay  one  for  any  suffering  undergone  for 
that  end.  I  cannot  understand  how  it  is  that  Chris 
tians  stay  comfortably  at  home  while  the  heathen 
go  to  death  unenlightened." 

Evangelistic  Work  Strengthened.  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  new  Bishop  was  to  appoint  the  Rev. 
E.  H.  Thomson,  Archdeacon,  and  as  such  to  have 
charge  of  the  directly  evangelistic  work  in  Shang 
hai  and  vicinity.  The  educational  part  of  the  work 
had  been  strongly  stressed  and  in  the  hospitals  in 
Shanghai  and  Wuchang  the  medical  work  was 
showing  an  encouraging  development.  With  the 
increasing  number  of  native  clergy  and  catechists 
the  direct  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen 
was  receiving  more  attention.  A  large  staff  of  dea 
cons  and  catechists  located  at  the  various  outsta- 
tions  worked  under  the  direction  of  the  Archdeacon. 
These  workers  learned  to  vaccinate  and  often 
secured  their  foothold  in  a  new  town  by  this  popu 
lar  appeal  to  the  people  who  brought  their  children 
in  great  numbers  to  be  vaccinated.  Dispensaries 
were  also  opened  and  by  these  means  or  without 
them  the  missionaries  indefatigably  preached  the 
word  to  the  informal  congregations  that  would 
gather  around  them  day  and  night. 

Outstation  Medical  Work.  The  native  workers 
availed  themselves  of  every  opportunity  to  reach  their 


130         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

countrymen.  Some  of  them,  such  as  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Woo,  possessed  hospital  experience  and  were  able 
to  dispense  remedies.  In  one  of  these  outstations 
lived  a  widow  who  became  seriously  ill.  After  Mr. 
Woo's  treatment  she  recovered.  One  day  she  said 
to  him,  "Mr.  Woo,  my  kitchen  god  recommended 
you  to  be  my  physician.  The  other  physicians  were 
of  no  benefit  because  my  kitchen  god  did  not  approve 
of  them."  Mr.  Woo  replied,  "How  is  this?  I  am  no 
friend  of  kitchen  gods  for  I  always  bid  the  people 
not  to  honor  them  or  sacrifice  to  them.  I  don't 
think  your  kitchen  god  would  recommend  an 
enemy!"  The  other  visitors  joined  in  the  general 
laugh  and  Mr.  Woo  asked  her  how  she  discovered 
that  the  kitchen  god  approved  of  him.  She  said  that 
her  son  prayed  and  made  an  offering  before  the 
bamboo  sticks.  Stick  No.  1  which  represented  Mr. 
Woo  was  a  good  one  while  those  representing  the 
other  "physicians"  were  not  good.  Thereupon  Mr. 
Woo  spoke  to  them  of  the  Gospel.  "As  I  was  leaving 
the  house,"  he  related,  "I  was  met  by  some  female 
neighbors  who  wanted  to  hear  more  on  the  kitchen 
god  subject.  I  did  not  lose  so  favorable  an  oppor 
tunity  of  telling  them  of  the  uselessness  of  such  gods 
and  advised  them  to  trust  their  lives  in  the  hands  of 
their  Heavenly  Father  and  invited  them  to  attend 
our  services  for  fuller  instruction." 

Growing  Necessity  of  Pastoral  Work.  With  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  converts  the  foreign  mis 
sionaries  and  the  Chinese  clergy  were  more  and 
more  occupied  in  shepherding  and  instructing  them 


Into  New  Fields  131 

and  the  candidates  for  Baptism.  The  habits  of 
heathenism  were  still  strong  upon  them ;  they  were 
generally  ignorant,  superstitious  and  unspiritual. 
They  were  socially  ostracized,  their  motives  were 
misjudged  and  they  were  the  objects  of  both  petty 
annoying  persecutions  and  more  bitter  attacks.  The 
work  of  protecting  and  instructing  and  strengthen 
ing  these  lambs  of  the  flock  was  of  the  first  import 
ance  to  the  native  and  foreign  pastor — the  former 
of  whom  lived  in  the  station  with  them  and  the 
latter  of  whom  visited  the  stations  in  turn.  But  the 
foreigner  could  never  come  as  close  to  the  Chinese 
Christians  as  one  of  their  own  race,  and  as  the  native 
clergy  developed  in  spiritual  power  and  knowledge 
it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Mission  to  make  the  Chi 
nese  clergy  the  actual  pastors  of  their  flocks,  encour 
aging,  sympathizing,  comforting  or  rebuking  the 
Christians  as  the  case  might  be.  It  was  early  seen 
that  the  Chinese  Christians  would  go  much  more 
readily  to  their  native  pastor  than  to  the  foreign 
missionary.  And  this  was  as  it  should  be.  As  they 
proved  worthy  of  the  trust,  the  direct  pastoral  work 
has  been  more  and  more  turned  over  to  the  Chinese 
and  the  foreigner  retires  more  and  more  into  the 
background  as  the  general  adviser,  director,  helper 
and  inspirer  of  the  native  clergy  associated  with 
him.  And  although  they  were  not  all  of  equal  spir 
itual  or  mental  power  they  were  then  and  they  are 
now  a  splendid  body  of  high-toned  men,  the  great 
est  element  of  strength  in  the  China  Mission  and 
the  surest  ground  of  hope  for  its  future  as  a  living 


132         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Speaking  of  three 
of  the  early  native  clergymen  of  the  Church  and 
their  views,  Mr.  Partridge  wrote  home  of  them  soon 
after  his  arrival,  "I  hold  that  one  such  man  as  Mr. 
Yen  and  one  such  woman  as  Mrs.  Yen  are  worth 
twenty  years  of  labor  here,  nay  more,  fifty.  And 
what  shall  I  say  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Woo,  and  the 
Wongs?  I  can  only  say  that  the  earth  is  hardly 
worthy  of  such  people ;  they  have  given  all  that  they 
have,  at  a  cost  that  we  know  little  of,  for  Christ  and 
His  Church."  At  the  time  that  Bishop  Boone  began 
his  Episcopate  there  had  been  sixteen  Chinese 
ordained  to  the  Sacred  Ministry  since  the  founding 
of  the  Mission  and  there  were  eleven  others  pre 
paring  for  Holy  Orders.  Since  then  the  number  of 
ordained  native  leaders  has  increased  until  there 
were  forty-two  living  in  1912  in  the  three  dioceses. 
All  honor  to  the  missionaries  who  have  called  and 
trained  these  men  and  filled  them  with  the  wisdom 
and  spiritual  power  with  which  they  give  their 
lives  to  the  spread  of  Christ's  Kingdom.  These 
native  workers  and  the  greater  number  of  many 
catechists  and  teachers  working  with  them,  though 
they  have  had  much  less  opportunities  for  develop 
ment  than  the  ordained  men  have  had,  are  daily  wit 
nessing  to  that  which  the  power  of  Christ  can  do  for 
the  Chinese  race.  What  He  has  done  for  them  He 
can  do  for  all.  They  are  the  first  fruits  for  Christ 
in  China.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith  in  his 
admirable  book,  "Chinese  Characteristics/'  has  said 
that  if  the  old  religions  of  China :  Buddhism,  Con- 


Into  New  Fields  133 

fucianism,  Taoism,  had  been  able  to  produce  one 
such  character  as  Mrs.  Charles  Kingsley  portrays 
her  husband  to  have  been  in  her  biography  of  him, 
it  would  be  a  moral  miracle  greater  than  any  or  all 
that  are  recorded  in  the  books  of  Taoist  fables.  But 
what  these  forces  have  been  unable  to  accomplish 
Christianity  is  doing."  The  lives  of  these  native 
pastors  are  lives  of  single  hearted  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

An  "Evidence  of  Christianity."  One  of  the  most 
striking  "Evidences  of  Christianity"  occurred  at  a 
meeting  of  the  English  "Shanghai  Literary  and 
Debating  Club"  in  March,  1885,  in  a  public  meeting 
at  which  several  able  gentlemen  were  advertised  to 
speak  against  Christian  miracles.  A  spectator  pres 
ent  that  night  thus  describes  it.  "The  large  hall 
was  rilled  with  people  and  probably  three  quarters 
of  them  were  unbelievers,  drawn  there  because  they 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  chance  "to  go  for  the 
missionaries"  as  the  phrase  is  here.  The  assault 
was  lamentably  weak.  After  several  speeches  had 
been  made,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Yen,  who  had  modestly 
occupied  a  seat  by  the  door,  rose  and  moved  toward 
the  platform.  As  this  tall  and  fine  looking  Chinese 
in  a  gentlemanly  and  dignified  way  began  his 
remarks  a  profound  silence  fell  on  the  audience.  He 
made  the  speech  of  the  evening  and  I  wish  all  our 
people  at  home  who  question  the  utility  of  our  work 
could  have  been  there  and  heard  him.  He  began 
with  the  'ethical  element*  and  showed  how  Chris 
tianity  differed  from  and  was  superior  to  all  the  sys- 


134         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

terns  of  the  East,  and  then  proceeded  with  the 
'miraculous  element5  as  a  necessary  part  of  the 
great  religion.  He  was  interrupted  by  frequent 
expressions  of  approval  and  finally  closed  amid  long 
and  prolonged  applause.  Had  I  not  come  from  St. 
John's  College  with  him  I  would  have  risen  and 
said,  'Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  what  more  striking 
and  convincing  argument  for  Christian  miracles 
could  you  possibly  have  than  what  you  have 
just  seen  and  heard?'  Of  course  I  could  not 
say  that,  but  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  many  present  felt  just  as  I  did.  It  was 
a  tremendous  'crusher*  for  our  unbelieving  foreign 
ers  to  be  met  and  answered  on  their  own  ground  and 
in  their  own  tongue1  by  a  Chinese  missionary." 

Making  Hankow  a  Central  Station.  The  work  at 
Hankow  had  been  superintended  by  the  mission 
aries  from  Wuchang.  In  1883,  the  Rev.  Arthur  H. 
Locke  and  his  wife  had  joined  the  staff,  going  first 
to  Wuchang  and  early  in  1885  when  Mr.  Locke  had 
some  familiarity  with  the  language  he  was  trans 
ferred  across  the  river  to  the  greatest  city  in  Cen 
tral  China, —  the  thriving  tea  port  of  Hankow.  It 
was  one  of  the  treaty-ports  opened  for  the  residence 
and  trade  of  foreigners  and  situated  as  it  is  at  the 
junction  of  the  Han  and  Yangtse  rivers  it  was  the 
distributing  point  for  all  the  Western  and  North 
western  parts  of  the  Empire.  Hankow  has  aptly  been 
called  the  Chicago  of  China  and  the  Chinese  called 

JMr.  Yen  was  one  of  the  very  few  Chinese  clergymen  who 
received  his  education  in  the  United  States. 


Into  New  Fields  135 

it  "the  mart  of  nine  provinces."  It  is  situated  in 
the  center  of  the  granary  of  the  Empire  and  its 
importance  was  early  recognized  by  foreigners.  This 
city  was  the  first  point  selected  for  a  concession 
under  Lord  Elgin's  Treaty  of  1858.  At  the  time  of 
Mr.  Locke's  removal  there  as  our  resident  mission 
ary  he  reported  it  as  second  only  to  Shanghai  for 
foreign  commerce,  and  that  Canton  alone  surpassed 
it  in  the  extent  of  its  internal  trade.  "It  seems  to 
me,"  he  wrote  from  his  new  station,  "that  all  work 
in  the  interior,  at  least  for  many  years,  must  center 
at  this  terminus.  It  must  and  will  serve  as  a  base  of 
operations,  and  the  only  question  is  whether  this 
base  is  to  be  weak  and  neglected  or  strong  and 
invigorating  the  whole  work." 

Here  the  West  was  touching  the  East,  but  its  touch 
was  too  often  materialistic.  Here  the  West  was 
teaching  the  East  but  its  teaching  was  too  frequently  of 
Western  vices.  The  representatives  of  the  West  in 
oriental  cities  often  throw  aside  all  the  moral 
restraints  of  Christian  lands  and  live  lives  that  do 
anything  but  commend  Christianity  to  the  Chinese 
mind.  To  them  all  foreigners  were  Christians  and 
the  religion  that  resulted  in  the  evil  lives  the  Chi 
nese  saw  was  naturally  not  one  to  appeal  to  them  as 
superior  to  theirs.  So  it  was  all  the  more  necessary 
that  in  these  treaty  ports  of  China  the  Christian 
Church  should  establish  itself  and  proclaim  the 
Gospel.  The  work  in  these  places  was  far  more 
difficult  and  discouraging  than  in  places  further 
away  from  foreign  display  of  wealth  and  the  low 


136         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

tone  of  foreign  morals,  but  it  must  be  done  all  the 
more  energetically  for  these  very  reasons. 

Advantages  of  the  Port  Cities.  There  were  advan 
tages  as  well  as  disadvantages  for  work  in  these 
big  centers  of  life  and  trade.  Mr.  Froude  tells  us 
that  great  reforms  first  take  hold  of  large  cities,  and 
that  the  broadness  of  mind  and  susceptibility  of 
change  which  is  found  there  is  necessary  for  their 
spread.  In  thus  locating  the  strong  centers  of  the 
Church's  life  in  the  strong  centers  of  the  nation's 
life  our  missionaries  in  China  were  following  an 
Apostolic  principle. 

Says  a  late  Margaret  Professor  at  Cambridge: 
"There  is  something  very  striking  in  the  choice 
made  by  the  first  heralds  of  the  Gospel  of  strong 
positions.  Obscure  as  they  were  themselves,  they 
were  not  content  with  taking  up  obscure  ground. 
They  did  not  secrete  themselves  in  rural  and  seques 
tered  neighborhoods,  and  trust  to  emerge  by 
degrees,  as  their  new  principle  should  creep  through 
the  country,  without  observation :  they  boldly  fixed 
their  headquarters,  by  preference,  in  the  most  con 
spicuous  and  flourishing  towns,  Jerusalem,  Antioch, 
Ephesus,  Corinth,  Rome,  being  all  of  them  sites  the 
most  commanding;  cities  populous,  busy,  alive, 
intelligent,  pre-eminently  set  on  a  hill;  serving  in 
addition  to  their  general  aptitude  for  the  purposes 
contemplated  by  the  Apostles,  to  convince  mankind 
that  humble  teachers  of  the  Gospel  who  planted 
their  standards  so  bravely  must  be  confident  in  their 
cause,  must  feel  their  strength,  were  ready  to  chai- 


Into  New  Fields  137 

lenge  inquiry,  and  were  convinced  that  their  efforts 
would  make  an  impression  on  the  world/' 

Hankow  was  such  a  strategic  center.  Many  of 
its  residents  were  men  from  other  places  near  and 
far  who  from  time  to  time  returned  home  or  moved 
about  the  Empire  for  trade.  In  this  way  many  were 
able  to  carry  the  newly  found  message  far  and  wide. 
One  of  the  Hankow  converts — later  a  vestryman  of 
St.  Peter's  Chapel — was  a  merchant  who  used  to 
travel  across  Siberia  toward  Russia  in  the  days 
before  the  railroad,  and  the  journey  used  to  take  him 
nine  months.  Others  came  from  the  large  country 
districts  around  Hankow,  especially  from  the  town 
of  Hwang  Pi  and  so  the  Gospel  radiated  from  this 
center  in  ever  increasing  power  and  volume.  Mr. 
Locke  found  the  congregations  at  St.  Paul's 
Chapel  good  from  the  start.  The  chapel  was 
thronged  with  country  folk  and  visitors  whom  the 
missionary  might  see  once  only.  But  the  little  leaven 
carried  away  was  all  part  of  the  influence  that  was 
quietly  yet  powerfully  working  toward  a  new  China. 
"No  itinerant  Evangelist  could  reach  a  greater  num 
ber  than  the  preachers  in  our  Chapel,"  wrote  Mr. 
Locke.  "Our  work  here  is  growing  rapidly.  I  have 
thirty-five  in  training  for  Baptism.  Thirteen  boys 
from  our  day-school  are  preparing  for  Baptism.  We 
have  not  been  able  to  secure  any  candidates  from 
day-schools  before  this  year.  Our  new  Bible  woman 
has  a  day-school  for  twenty-five  girls  and  some 
women  under  instruction/' 

The  two  Rev.  Mr.  Yangs — father  and  son — had 


138         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

been  successively  in  charge  of  the  Station.  There 
were  twenty-two  communicants  and  two  day- 
schools.  It  seems  a  day  of  very  small  things  com 
pared  with  the  present  development  of  the  Hankow 
work,  but  it  was  a  promising  beginning  and  in 
charge  of  a  worker  quick  to  see  and  use  the  wide 
opportunities  offered. 


EXPANDING  OPPORTUNITIES 
1886-1891 


CHAPTER  V 

EXPANDING  OPPORTUNITIES 
1886-1891 

Beginnings  of  St.  Mary's  Orphanage,  Shanghai. 

An  orphanage  had  grown  up  naturally  in  connection 
with  St.  Mary's  Hall.  A  few  abandoned  and  other 
wise  neglected  girl  babies  had  been  rescued  and 
were  being  lovingly  cared  for  by  Miss  Wong  and 
her  assistants.  But  they  were  crowding  the  school 
for  older  girls  and  it  was  decided  to  put  up  an  inex 
pensive  building  where  this  work  could  grow.  Miss 
Wong  and  her  pupils  earned  part  of  the  money  for 
this  building  and  generous  friends  in  America  sup 
plied  the  remainder.  Here  the  workers  were  able 
to  receive  into  their  arms  a  larger  number  of 
despised  and  perishing  little  heathen  babies  and 
transform  them  into  bright,  intelligent  Christian 
children.  Had  there  been  a  sufficient  number  of 
workers  and  more  gifts  of  money  the  orphanage 
could  have  grown  into  a  much  greater  institution 
such  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphanage  at  Hankow 
with  its  six  hundred  Chinese  girls  being  trained  in 
the  church,  but  St.  Mary's  was  not  thus  able  and 
perhaps  after  all  it  was  better  to  do  thoroughly  well 
what  was  done  rather  than  undertake  a  greater  task 
and  do  it  less  thoroughly.  The  best  use  that  the 

141 


142         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

orphanage  was  put  to  was  to  provide  students  for 
St.  Mary's  Hall  who  had  thus  been  from  early 
infancy  in  a  Christian  atmosphere  and  were  not  to 
be  married  to  heathen  after  leaving  the  school,  as 
the  girls  often  were  betrothed  before  entering  the 
school  at  the  ages  of  six  or  eight.  So  the  Orphan 
age  insured  the  best  possible  use  of  the  School 
course,  for  the  orphanage  girls  were  children  of  the 
Mission  and  could  be  used  as  missionary  workers 
or  be  betrothed  to  educated  Christian  young  men 
as  the  lady  missionaries  in  charge  might  decide. 
Bishop  Boone  opened  the  Orphanage  on  October 
1st,  1885.  It  started  very  humbly,  with  four  rooms 
only,  but  they  were  soon  crowded  out  of  these  and  six 
more  were  added.  The  success  of  the  new  venture 
was,  as  is  always  the  case,  the  opening  of  the  doors 
to  larger  opportunities  and  greater  responsibilities. 
No  wonder  the  workers  at  St.  John's  College  felt 
the  need  of  such  a  work  of  loving  mercy,  when  one 
of  them  wrote  home  that  a  mother  in  the  neighbor 
ing  village  had  killed  all  four  daughters  as  soon  as 
they  were  born,  being  too  poor  to  bring  up  girls. 
Girls  in  China  have  always  been  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  family  of  the  future  husband,  and 
therefore  the  blood  relatives  have  been  much  more 
unwilling  to  invest  money  in  a  child  when  all  the 
returns  would  be  for  someone  else.  "It  is,"  said 
Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith,  "as  if  one  were  to  put  a  gold 
chain  around  the  neck  of  a  dog.  The  dog  might  be 
whistled  off  by  your  neighbor  at  any  moment  and 
then  where  is  your  chain?"  So  the  poor  girl  in 


GIRLS  OF  ST.   AGNES'   SCHOOL,  ANKING,  AT  THE  WASH  TUBS 
THE  ORPHANAGE,   SHANGHAI 


Expanding  Opportunities  143 

China  has  always  been  the  neglected  and  abused 
member  of  the  household  if  indeed  she  were  allowed 
to  live  at  all.  There  would  be  probably  no  limit  to 
the  amount  of  girls  any  Christian  mission  might 
receive  and  train  into  Christian  womanhood  if  there 
were  the  funds  and  the  workers  available  for  such  a 
noble  work.  Would  that  some  of  the  money  that 
Christian  people  are  spending  in  lavish  entertain 
ment  or  self-indulgence  were  spent  in  rescuing  these 
perishing  little  lambs  of  heathenism.  Enough  is 
often  wasted  in  the  frivolity  of  a  single  night  in  any 
one  of  some  of  our  Christian  homes  in  America  to  pro 
vide  for  a  thousand  of  these  neglected  little  ones,  so 
precious  to  Christ,  for  a  whole  year.  Our  ears  are 
so  deaf  we  cannot  hear  Him  saying  to  us,  "Inas 
much  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye 
did  it  unto  me."  And  He  is  pointing  to  the  despised 
little  ones  of  China.  But  small  as  our  efforts  are 
these  institutions  are  standing  as  models  to  a  vast 
people  of  what  they  should  and  of  what  they  will 
do  in  the  new  great  Christian  China  that  is  coming. 
First  Ordinations  in  Central  China.  On  the  Feast 
of  the  Epiphany,  1885,  the  first  ordination  service  at 
the  upriver  stations,  as  Hankow  and  Wuchang  were 
called,  was  held  in  the  old  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  Han 
kow.  The  candidates  were  all  for  work  in  Central 
China  in  the  Mandarin  speaking  district  and  these 
ordinations  marked  a  distinct  advance.  Yeh  Tsang 
Fa,  Tsun  I  Fu,  Fung  Tsen  Seng,  Hwang  Min  Kao 
and  Wang  Swun-I,  were  the  candidates  and  all  had 
been  students  in  Boone  School, — its  first  fruits  into 


144         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

the  Ministry  of  the  Church.  Some  of  them  had  gone 
later  to  St.  John's  College  and  all  of  them  had  been 
working  as  Catechists  in  the  Mission.  Mr.  Wang, 
the  youngest  candidate,  who  was  to  have  such  a 
long  and  useful  career  in  the  Church  in  China,  had 
come  to  the  Mission  School  when  he  was  a  boy  of 
seven  and  had  been  known  as  the  baby  of  the 
School.  This  ordination  was  an  occasion  of  special 
joy  to  Bishop  Boone  for  his  early  mission  work  had 
been  all  among  the  Chinese  in  Central  China.  With 
a  full  and  grateful  heart  he  wrote  to  the  Church  at 
home: 

"For  sixteen  years  I  have  known  them  and  watched 
their  growth  in  stature  and  moral  character,  as  well 
as  their  advancement  in  knowledge.  To  me,  on  the 
eve  of  the  eighteenth  anniversary  of  my  landing  as 
a  missionary  in  this  land  of  my  birth,  it  was  a  deep 
joy  to  be  the  Lord's  servant  to  impart  to  them  this 
added  seal  and  gift  of  grace  for  the  work  of  a  deacon 
in  the  Church  of  God.  May  I  be  spared  to  see  their 
numbers  added  to  and  the  fruit  of  their  ministry 
in  the  gathering  in  of  many  souls  from  the  harvest 
fields  around  us."1 

Removal  of  Divinity  School  to  Wuchang.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  the  Bishop  decided  that  it  would 

1  These  deacons  were  used  to  strengthen  the  stations  already 
opened.  Han  Yang,  the  third  large  city  of  the  triple  group 
made  by  Hankow  and  Wuchang,  was  occupied  at  this  time  as 
a  sub-station  of  St.  Paul's  Hankow  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hwang 
was  put  in  charge.  There  were  five  other  candidates  for 
Orders,  but  it  was  to  be  two  years  more  before  Lieo  Ying 
Tsung  the  more  advanced  of  them  was  to  be  ready  for 
ordination. 


Expanding  Opportunities  145 

be  wise  to  move  the  Divinity  School  from  St.  John's 
College  to  Wuchang.  It  was  a  simpler  atmosphere, 
removed  from  the  distractions  of  a  city  very  much 
foreignized  and  nearer  the  home  of  the  majority 
of  the  students.  With  the  removal  of  the  Divinity 
School  the  Bishop  also  moved  to  Hankow  in  order 
that  he  might  assist  in  this  work  and  in  the  general 
development  of  the  upriver  stations. 

Chinkiang  Closed — Wuhu  Opened.  Not  long 
after  the  work  in  Chinkiang  had  been  opened  it  was 
decided  to  change  the  location  of  the  station  to 
Wuhu,  some  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the 
sea  on  the  Yangtse  river.  The  new  station  was 
more  centrally  located  and  gave  easier  access  to 
the  regions  behind  in  which  it  was  hoped  to  open 
outstations.  Then  too  it  was  a  needier  field  than 
Chinkiang  in  which  several  Christian  missions  were 
at  work.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Kwei  was  sent  to  take 
charge  at  Wuhu  (Grassy  Lake)  assisted  by  a  cate- 
chist.  A  native  house  was  rented  and  the  large 
room  fronting  on  the  street  was  used  as  a  preaching 
hall.  Here  for  many  years  the  seed  was  patiently 
sown  and  without  any  resident  foreign  missionary, 
preaching  was  going  on  daily  and  the  prayers  of  the 
little  band  of  workers  were  ascending.  Listeners 
were  always  present,  some  interested,  some  simply 
idly  curious. 

In  1888,  Bishop  Boone  purchased  a  piece  of  property 
outside  the  city  as  a  basis  for  a  central  mission  station 
which  he  hoped  to  establish  there  with  a  foreign 
missionary  in  charge.  But  help  was  slow  in  coming, 


146         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

more  than  ten  years  were  to  go  by,  and  the  Bishop 
was  to  lay  down  his  work  for  another  to  take  up 
before  the  "lone  hill  top"  of  Wuhu  was  to  have  any 
signs  of  permanent  missionary  activity. 

Opening  of  Shasi  and  Ichang.  With  the  trans 
fer  of  Messrs.  Graves  and  Partridge  to  Wuchang, 
Mr.  Sowerby  gave  up  the  settled  work  in  Wuchang 
where  he  had  done  such  excellent  service  in  the 
parish  and  in  Boone  School  and  pushed  further 
upriver  to  develop  the  new  station  in  the  city  of 
Shasi  and  to  open  another  at  Ichang.  Shasi  is  situ 
ated  about  three  hundred  miles  beyond  Hankow  and 
Ichang  is  a  hundred  miles  beyond  that.  Both  were 
busy  trading  places  and  points  of  advantage  for  mis 
sion  work.  Mr.  Sowerby  from  his  experience  in  the 
China  Inland  Mission  was  well  qualified  for  the 
difficult  work  of  opening  new  stations  and  he  found 
it  an  advantage  to  live  in  Ichang,  the 'further  sta 
tion,  from  whence  he  could  drop  down  by  native 
boat  to  Shasi  and  return  by  foreign  steamer. 

There  had  been  reports  of  hostile  feelings  toward 
foreigners  before  the  new  station  at  Shasi  was 
opened  in  1886,  but  a  proclamation  had  been  issued 
a  short  time  before  giving  permission  to  the  natives 
to  enter  the  Christian  Church  if  they  pleased  and 
forbidding  them  to  hurt  or  insult  either  mission 
aries  or  their  converts  as  "the  said  Churches  taught 
the  people  to  be  good  and  the  missionaries  only  came 
to  do  good."  The  result  was  that  in  a  city  that  had 
an  established  reputation  for  the  rude  treatment 
of  foreigners,  Mr.  Sowerby  found  that  in  no  place 


Expanding  Opportunities  147 

out  of  the  five  provinces  he  had  visited  in  China 
had  he  a  quieter  three  days  than  when  he  first 
entered  Shasi  to  make  arrangements  for  opening 
work  there. 

Hopeful  Outlook  Generally.  It  was  in  fact  a  time 
of  hopeful  outlook  for  mission  work  generally.  In 
addition  to  the  edict  of  toleration  referred  to  above, 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs  at  Pekin  took  two 
important  steps  in  1887 — either  of  which  would  have 
made  the  Chinese  of  the  previous  generation  think 
that  the  end  of  all  things  was  at  hand.  One  was 
the  appointment  of  a  corps  of  officials  with  inter 
preters  to  travel  in  Western  countries  and  study 
their  civilization  and  the  second  sanctioned  the 
introduction  of  mathematics  and  Western  sciences 
into  the  government  competition  examinations  for 
public  office.  These  were  some  of  the  entering 
wedges  that  were  in  time  to  bring  the  mighty  men 
tal  conversion  of  the  Empire.  Three  hundred  years 
before  Christ  Mencius  had  said  "I  have  heard  of 
the  outer  barbarians  learning  from  the  Middle 
Kingdom  but  I  have  never  heard  of  the  Middle 
Kingdom  learning  from  the  outer  barbarian."  This 
pride  lasted  right  up  to  the  end  of  the  19th 'Cen 
tury  but  already  was  beginning  to  weaken  until 
the  time  came  when  the  self-satisfaction  of  centuries 
was  to  yield  to  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  learning,  meth 
ods  and  religion  of  the  Western  world  so  long 
despised.  These  changes,  added  to  the  sanction 
given  to  the  introduction  of  railways,  made  the  year 
1887  an  annus  mirabilis  in  the  history  of  the  country. 


148         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

In  the  light  of  later  events  it  was  but  a  shadow  of 
things  to  come,  but  the  change  of  attitude  was  very 
welcome  to  the  missionaries  as  they  watched  for 
signs  of  the  coming  day.  The  great  inert  mass  of 
Chinese  civilization  had  begun  to  move. 

Time  to  Strengthen  the  Forces.  It  was  a  time 
for  the  Church  to  strengthen  her  forces  and  push 
harder  the  fight  when  the  enemy  showed  the  signs 
of  weakness  and  flight.  "Foreign  capitalists  realize 
what  a  magnificent  empire  China  is  to  invest  their 
money  in"  ran  an  editorial  in  the  January  Spirit  of 
Missions  in  1888  "and  how  immense  will  be  the 
returns;  and  so  American,  English,  French  and 
German  syndicates  keep  their  representatives  there 
to  offer  money  and  men  wherewith  to  work  the 
mines,  increase  the  means  of  communication  and 
travel  and  labor  otherwise  for  the  material  pros 
perity  of  the  country.  Would  that  those  whose 
duty  it  is  to  promote  the  spiritual  and  eternal  weal 
of  the  many  millions  in  this  vast  realm,  realized  as 
fully  the  magnitude  of  the  field  and  the  certainty 
of  glorious  results  from  Christian  enterprise  and 
missionary  zeal !" 

Anti-Foreign  Feeling.  These  edicts  from  Pekin 
came  at  a  most  opportune  time  as  a  spirit  of  per 
secution  was  abroad  in  China  in  1886,  beginning  in 
the  Western  province  of  Szchuen.  In  the  city  of 
Chungking  the  outbreak  against  foreigners  had  be 
come  so  violent  that  all  the  buildings  of  the  Ameri 
can  Methodist,  the  China  Inland  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Missions  had  been  destroyed.  Many  native 


Expanding  Opportunities  149 

Christians,  especially  Roman  Catholics,  were  killed. 
This  uprising  had  been  precipitated  by  the  news 
of  outrages  against  Chinese  in  the  United  States. 
Between  twenty  and  thirty  of  them  had  been  killed 
by  American  mobs  in  the  West,  and  feeling  ran 
high  against  Americans  and  all  foreigners.  The 
friendly  natives  came  to  the  missionaries  and  said, 
"The  people  on  the  streets  say  that  your  people 
mob  and  kill  our  people  there.  Is  it  true?"  It  was  a 
hard  time  for  the  missionaries  and  it  was  with  great 
thankfulness  that  they  saw  the  incipient  spirit  of 
persecution  and  retaliation  stopped  by  the  decided 
official  stand  expressed  in  the  edicts  commanding 
the  people  to  live  at  peace  with  Christian  mission 
aries  and  converts. 

Work  at  Jessfield.  Meanwhile,  with  the  expand 
ing  opportunities  for  training  the  future  leaders  of 
China,  Bishop  Schereschewsky's  expectation  of 
means  for  the  purpose  of  equipping  and  developing 
St.  John's  had  not  been  realized.  American  men 
of  business  were  ready  to  invest  millions  in  the 
development  of  commercial  interests  in  China  but 
as  yet  few  American  Christians  of  this  Church  were 
willing  to  invest  the  money,  of  which  they  were 
stewards,  for  its  moral  and  spiritual  renovation. 
The  workers  felt  the  need  keenly  and  were  sad 
dened  at  the  failure  of  their  own  Church  as  they 
saw  in  1888  the  Presbyterians  raise  and  send  out 
$100,000  to  found  a  college  in  connection  with  their 
work.  St.  John's  in  the  meantime  was  losing  valu 
able  opportunities  to  train  up  young  men  and  had 


150         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

to  let  them  go  to  secular  schools  or  to  some  other 
mission,  if  happily  they  might  do  so,  for  the  educa 
tion  they  were  demanding.  One  asset  it  received 
was  however  of  far  greater  value  than  gifts  of 
money,  much  as  they  were  and  still  are  needed,  in 
the  coming  of  F.  L.  H.  Pott  under  whose  foster 
ing  care  St.  John's  was  to  expand  into  its  present 
commanding  place  in  China.  Dr.  Pott  came  to 
the  mission  a  deacon  in  1886  and  has  given  twenty- 
seven  years  continuously  to  this  work  for  which 
he  is  so  eminently  qualified.  Another  notable 
accession  to  the  mission  ranks  in  1888  was  a  new 
worker  for  St.  Mary's  School  and  Orphanage, 
Miss  Stepha  I,.  Dodson.  Miss  Dodson's  long  ser 
vice  for  these  institutions  was  to  mean  much  the 
same  for  them  that  Mr.  Pott's  coming  was  to  mean 
to  the  work  for  young  men.  Long,  continuous 
services  carrying  out  definite  policies  under  wise, 
patient  and  capable  leadership  have  been  the  most 
notable  factor  in  developing  our  work  in  China. 
It  has  suffered  so  much  from  short  term  workers, 
many  of  whom  have  had  to  lay  down  their  work 
because  of  serious  illness  or  death.  Such  institu 
tions  as  St.  John's  and  St.  Mary's  show  us  what 
uninterrupted  work  can  do. 

St.  Mary's  School.  Miss  Wong's  work  at  the 
School  and  Orphanage  is  beyond  all  praise  and 
when  she  turned  it  over  to  her  successors,  at  the 
time  of  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Pott  in  1888,  she  was 
still  by  her  close  interest  and  experience  and  prox 
imity  to  be  of  the  greatest  service  in  the  many 


Expanding  Opportunities  151 

problems  that  arose,  though  no  longer  the  actual 
head.  Bishop  Boone  wrote  of  St.  Mary's  Hall  in 
1887  —  "The  Christian  atmosphere  of  the  School 
has  been  such  and  Miss  Wong's  influence  so  marked 
on  all  under  her  care,  and  the  many  instructions 
through  years  in  Church  and  class  have  been  so 
blessed,  that  sooner  or  later,  all  who  have  gradu 
ated,  so  far,  have  been  brought  to  the  glad  use  of 
the  Church's  means  of  grace  as  helps  to  lead  a  godly 
life.  They  go  forth  to  make  happy  homes,  and,  as 
we  trust,  in  the  light  of  past  examples,  to  diffuse 
blessings  on  others,  among  whom  they  witness  for 
Christ  and  the  Church  that  has  nurtured  and  fos 
tered  them." 

"And,"  he  adds  significantly,  "there  is  no  mis 
sionary  Bishop  in  the  South  or  West  who  will  not  and 
does  not  testify  to  the  worth  of  these  centers  of  light 
which  radiate  out  to  the  homes  of  his  scattered  peo 
ple.  If  that  is  so  on  the  borders  of  a  Christian 
civilization,  what  must  it  be  here  in  a  heathen  mass 
of  people  and  among  those  who  have  yet  to  learn  in 
any  proper  way  the  holy  and  spiritual  worth  of  those 
who  are  handmaids  of  the  Lord,  some  even  mothers 
in  our  Israel." 

Losses  in  the  Ranks.  While  the  missionaries 
were  rejoicing  in  the  new  recruits1  that  were 
coming  they  were  saddened  by  the  losses  that 
were  keeping  the  total  number  still  far  below  what 

1  Among  them  was  a  lady  doctor  at  last  for  Wuchang,  Dr. 
Haslep,  and,  soon  after,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smalley  for  the  busi 
ness  side  of  mission  work. 


152         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

was  urgently  needed.  The  additions  barely  enabled 
them  to  hold  their  own.  Dr.  Griffiths,  whose  coming 
in  1885  had  strengthened  the  medical  work  and  made 
the  Medical  School  at  St.  Luke's  an  immediate  pos 
sibility  was  obliged  to  retire  in  1888  because  of  ill 
health.  Miss  Purple,  who  had  come  out  in  1888  to 
help  in  the  educational  work  in  Shanghai  and  had 
been  a  faithful  and  devoted  worker,  was  obliged  to 
retire  in  1887  because  of  failing  health  and  died  on 
the  steamer  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  where  her 
body  was  committed  to  the  deep.  Most  notable  of 
all  Mrs.  Elliot  D.  Thomson  after  thirty-four  years 
of  loving  earnest  service  was  obliged  to  retire  from 
the  field  in  1888  suffering  with  an  incurable  disease. 
Her  name  is  one  of  the  most  honored  in  our  small 
band  of  workers  in  the  China  Mission.  In  the  fall 
of  1889  the  news  came  to  her  old  friends  in  the  China 
Mission  that  she  too  had  entered  into  rest.  Miss 
Annette  B.  Richmond  in  "The  American  Episcopal 
Church  in  China"  says  of  her :  "There  was  no  work 
of  girls  and  women  in  which  she  had  not  borne  a 
part,  a  woman  of  strong  will,  fervent  piety,  and  great 
practical  energy,  her  house  was  a  home  to  all  her 
fellow  workers.  She  was  like  a  mother  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  staff,  and  not  only  her 
foreign  fellow  workers,  but  all  the  Chinese  who 
knew  her,  felt  for  her  the  greatest  affection  and 
esteem/' 

Mrs.  Thomson's  Retrospect.  She  herself  had 
written  on  October  4th,  1886,  the  anniversary  of  her 
appointment  to  the  China  Mission  in  1853 :  "It 


Expanding  Opportunities  153 

is  with  great  gratitude  that  I  remember  the 
mercies  I  have  received  during  these  years 
and  the  unvarying  kindness  and  consideration  I 
have  met  with  from  all  the  officers  at  our  Mission 
Rooms  in  New  York.  To  God  be  all  the  praise. 
How  many  changes  I  have  seen  take  place,  how 
many  have  I  passed  through  in  my  own  experience ! 
Of  those  who  were  here  on  my  arrival  in  April,  1854, 
not  one  is  living,  with  Dr.  Nelson  the  last  one  passed 
away.  I  was  then  the  youngest  missionary  on  the 
coast  of  China.  At  that  time  there  were  no  Prot 
estant  missionaries  north  or  west  of  Shanghai.  Now 
I  am  far  up  among  the  oldest  ones  and  can  say  I 
knew  those  who  knew  the  first  Protestant  mission 
ary,  Dr.  Morrison.  I  was  present  at  the  semi 
centennial  of  his  arrival  in  1857.  Nearly  all  who 
participated  in  the  celebration  of  that  event  have 
passed  on  to  their  heavenly  home.  We  a  little 
longer  wait." 

More  Signs  of  Awakening.  One  of  the  signs  of  a 
new  day  of  material  prosperity  for  China  was  the 
opening  in  1888  of  the  first  railway  built,  owned  and 
controlled  by  the  Chinese  themselves.  Any  tokens 
of  the  walls  of  conservatism  breaking  down  as  this 
was  were  always  encouraging  to  the  missionaries  to 
whom  it  meant  a  more  sympathetic  attitude  toward 
Western  lands.  But  they  realized  that  railroads 
and  steamboats  did  not  necessarily  bring  Christian 
ity.  Experience  was  to  prove  in  Japan  and  is 
threatening  to  prove  the  same  in  China  that  the 
East  can  become  thoroughly  Westernized  and 


154         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

modernized  without  the  contact  becoming  spiritual 
ized.     Mr.  Partridge  writing  of  this  in  1888,  says: 

"Not  long  ago  I  took  a  trip  down  the  Yangtse 
on  a  steamer  commanded  by  a  Chinese  captain. 
He  has  every  token  of  foreign  civilization  about  his 
vessel,  but  at  the  same  time  had  his  shrine  of  idols 
in  the  main  salon !  A  more  striking  illustration 
than  this,  however,  of  how  people  can  adopt  our 
modern  ways  and  leave  our  religion  out  was  given 
last  year  in  Shanghai,  when  at  a  great  idolatrous 
feast  the  entire  temple  was  illuminated  by  the  elec 
tric  arc  and  people  worshipped  their  gods  of  wood 
and  stone  by  light  furnished  from  American  dyna 
mos  run  by  foreign  engineers.  Certainly,  then,  in 
China,  Christianity  and  civilization  are  no  synony 
mous  terms." 

The  work  of  turning  China  to  Christ  as  a  whole, 
however,  was  advancing.  Between  the  years  1878 
and  1888  the  number  of  converts  had  doubled  but 
the  part  that  our  own  Church  had  taken  in  this  great 
enterprise  was  lamentably  small  and  unworthy  of  it. 

To  our  little  brave  band  of  workers  who  saw 
especially  their  own  needy  and  poorly  supplied  field 
the  progress  seemed  very  slow  and  at  times  almost 
hopeless.  The  part  of  China,  in  which  this  Church 
had  been  at  work  and  for  which  it  was  responsible 
to  give  the  Gospel  as  it  had  received  it,  contained  a 
population  equal  to  that  of  the  whole  Roman 
Empire  at  the  time  of  Augustus  and  in  it  we  had 
five  foreign  clergymen  only  at  work.  Fifty  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  beginning  of  our  work  in 


Expanding  Opportunities  155 

China  and  to  the  missionaries  at  least,  the  results 
seemed  meagre  and  unsatisfactory. 

Inadequate  Support  From  Home  Base.  The  fault 
lay  not  with  the  workers — although  no  one  realized 
more  than  they  their  need  of  a  greater  endowment 
with  power  from  on  high,  but  it  was  due  to  a  lack 
of  lively  missionary  spirit  throughout  the  home 
Church.  The  missionaries  might  long  to  be  mod 
ern  St.  Pauls,  but  St.  Paul  was  the  product  of  an 
ideal  missionary  Church  which  made  the  labors  and 
the  man  possible.  The  Church  in  America  as  a 
whole  had  never  undertaken  the  problem  of  the 
evangelizing  of  Central  China  seriously.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Locke,  stirred  by  the  vastness  of  the  field  and 
the  pressing  needs,  wrote  to  the  home  Church  an 
oft  repeated  challenge.  "Has  the  Church  ever 
expected  to  succeed  in  China,  or  are  we  merely 
seeking  to  quit  ourselves  decorously,  but  as  cheaply 
as  possible,  of  an  undeniable  obligation?  Has  the 
Church  even  thought  of  providing  adequately  for 
the  needs  of  that  vast  jurisdiction  which  she  so 
generously  and  so  properly  assumed?  Does  she 
expect  to  accomplish  this  with  the  present  force 
and  the  present  methods?  It  is  with  the  Church  that 
the  real  responsibility  for  the  Mission  rests,  and  it 
is  the  Church  which  should  see  to  the  conscientious 
performance  of  the  most  sacred  of  all  its  duties. 
The  missionary  committees,  the  Bishop  and  the 
Board  are  only  agents.  The  mission  is  Christ's  trust 
to  His  Church." 

The  Stations  in  1890.     There  were  three  central 


156         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

ones  where  foreign  missionaries  resided,  Shanghai, 
Wuchang  and  Hankow.  To  these  had  been  added 
the  newly  opened  work  at  Ichang  with  the  Rev. 
Herbert  Sowerby  resident.  There  were  the  stations 
at  the  two  river  ports  Wuhu  and  Shasi,  and  a  num 
ber  of  outstations  in  the  vicinity  of  the  longer  es 
tablished  work  in  Shanghai.  Not  only  were  these 
main  stations  few  but  they  were  hundreds  of  miles 
apart.  Between  Shanghai  and  Ichang  the  river 
Yangtse  stretches  out,  one  thousand  miles,  and  com 
pelled  a  journey  of  eight  days  by  steamer  to  pass 
from  one  city  to  the  other.  No  wonder  the  burden 
of  the  responsibility  of  so  great  a  field  so  inade 
quately  provided  for  bore  heavily  upon  our  Bishops 
and  has  broken  down  one  and  another.  In  his  re 
port  of  1890,  a  year  before  his  death,  Bishop  Boone 
wrote : 

"This  is  the  sum  of  our  stations,  and  I  never  go 
on  my  visitations,  or  change  from  place  to  place  to 
fill  a  gap,  without  having  borne  in  upon  me  more 
and  more  what  a  shame — and  I  might  say  sin — it 
is  that  we,  who  are  so  few,  are  thus  left  by  the 
Church  to  till  and  overtake  so  vast  a  field.  Surely, 
if  the  Church  looks  for  results  such  as  all  could 
wish  for,  she  must  call  mightily  and  often  upon 
the  Lord,  who  alone  can  send  laborers  into  these 
teeming  fields,  and  make  our  weakness  strength. 
Lacking  constant  recruits  how  shall  we  not  toil  all 
the  long  night — perhaps  for  naught — and  only  find 
rest  as  we  fail  in  health,  or  lie  down  early  in  our 
harness  for  the  sleep  of  the  grave.  The  appeal 


Expanding  Opportunities  157 

that  the  evident  needs  of  our  work  make,  goes  so 
long  unheeded,  that  we  almost  lose  hope,  not  in  the 
workers  here  or  in  what  they  are  doing,  or  in  the 
results  as  God  shall  bless  a  feeble  flock;  but  in  the 
Church  as  to  her  real  hold  upon  the  Foreign  Mis 
sionary  Enterprise.  Who  shall  rouse  her?  Our 
seminaries  East  and  West  and  North  and  South 
send  out  classes — not  one  of  whose  members  comes 
abroad.  Here  for  fifty  years  pioneers  have  waited 
for  the  coming  of  those  who  could  adequately  do 
such  a  work  as  still  lies  before  us  to  be  done.  God 
hasten  this  in  His  wisdom." 

The  Darkness  Before  The  Dawn.  It  was  the 
dark  hour  before  the  dawn  and  it  was  to  be  darker 
yet  when  death  claimed  this  eager  young  leader. 
We  who  look  back  today  from  the  standpoint  of  an 
awakening  Church  at  home, — from  the  standpoint 
of  the  new  China  with  its  warm,  sympathetic  atti 
tude  toward  Christianity,  and  its  growing  Church, 
with  the  splendid  development  of  St.  John's  Uni 
versity  and  Boone  University,  with  our  three  dio 
ceses  and  staff  of  workers,  the  results  in  a  large 
measure  of  the  patience  and  perseverance  of  our 
early  missionaries,  thank  God  for  their  labors, 
thank  God  for  the  foundations  they  laid  though  they 
built  in  weariness  and  tears.  Lonely,  isolated  at 
times,  feeling  deserted  by  the  Church  that  sent 
them  forth,  far  from  the  praise  and  blame  of  men 
they  held  on  in  divine  patience  and  heroism  for  they 
"endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible." 


158         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

"The  bravely  dumb  that  did  their  deed, 
And  scorned  to  blot  it  with  a  name. 
Who  prized  heaven's  silence  more  than  fame." 

We  stand  on  the  threshold  of  China's  glorious 
new  day  with  the  triumph  of  Christ's  cause  in  sight 
if  the  Church  rises  to  this  responsibility  and  privi 
lege  of  giving  Christ  to-day  to  an  eager  China — but 
many  of  these  "having  obtained  a  good  report 
through  faith  received  not  the  promises,"  but 
bravely  dying  greeted  them  afar  off. 

Work  Among  the  Poor.  The  work  in  those  days 
was  still  largely  among  the  poor.  As  in  the  time 
of  the  Roman  Empire  and  as  in  India  and  Korea  it 
was  those  who  had  little  to  hope  for  in  this  world 
who  turned  gladly  to  the  message  from  another 
world.  "Not  many  mighty,  not  many  wise  are  called." 
It  was  among  the  lowly  that  the  leaven  began  to 
work  that  was  to  leaven  the  whole  lump.  The 
proud  scholar  and  the  haughty  official  had  little  or 
no  use  for  a  religion  whose  basis  is  humility  and 
honesty.  "Where  do  these  pupils  come  from  ?"  was 
asked  of  our  native  Deacon  in  one  of  the  day- 
schools.  "From  the  back  alleys  and  slums,"  was 
his  answer;  "you  do  not  suppose  any  respectable 
man  would  send  his  children  to  a  Christian  school, 
do  you?"  That  tells  the  story  of  the  attitude  of 
China  toward  Christian  education  twenty  years  ago. 

It  was  the  history  of  the  Early  Church  repeating 
itself.  "As  we  stand  in  the  chancel  of  our  native 


Expanding  Opportunities  159 

Church  here  and  look  at  the  faces  of  those  who  are 
'gathered  together'  in  His  name,  we  do  not  see  the 
proud  brow  of  the  scholar,  the  haughty  brow  of 
the  modern  Pharisee,  or  the  hardened,  sensual  vis 
age  of  the  Pontius  Pilates  or  the  Herods  of  China," 
wrote  Mr.  Partridge  from  Wuchang,  "but  we  see 
those  who  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day — 
the  sunburnt  coolie,  the  patient  laborer,  the  car 
penter,  the  mason,  the  blacksmith,  the  cobbler,  the 
peddler,  the  petty  farmer,  the  seller  of  flowers — 
these  are  the  souls  to  whom  it  is  our  blessed  privi 
lege  to  minister."  But  a  light  had  begun  to  shine 
in  a  dark  place  that  before  long  was  to  illumine  one- 
third  of  the  human  race.  How  little  the  workers 
in  those  days  dreamed  that  twenty-five  years  hence 
China  would  have  turned  from  her  idols  and 
temples  and  appealed  to  the  despised  Christian 
churches  for  prayer!  How  far  beyond  their  most 
daring  hopes  the  reality  has  been  when  the  chief 
executive  of  China  has  said  that  the  new  China 
must  be  built  upon  the  foundation  of  Christianity 
as  the  old  China  was  built  upon  the  foundation  of 
Confucianism ! 

Guest  Room  Work  in  Ichang  and  Shasi.  Mr. 
Sowerby  began  the  work  in  Ichang  in  1889.  He 
was  living  in  a  native  house  and  on  Chinese  food. 
Seven  adults  had  been  instructed  and  baptized  and 
the  work  well  started  when  he  was  taken  sick  and 
obliged  to  leave  for  a  time,  but  on  his  return  he 
began  training  Boone  School  students  as  evangel 
ists  and  preparing  enquirers  for  Baptism. 


160         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Guest  Room  Methods.  He  was  also  in  charge  OL" 
the  station  at  Shasi.  Here  he  tried  the  policy  later 
quite  widely  adopted  in  the  Mission  of  opening  a 
guest  room  or  street  reception  room  for  Gospel 
conversations  rather  than  the  usual  plan  of  a  street 
chapel.  The  street  chapel  often  consisted,  in  new 
stations,  of  a  shop  on  a  main  street  which  was  hired 
by  the  missionary  for  this  purpose  and  fitted  up 
with  benches.  Here  the  passers  by,  attracted  by  the 
assembly  or  sound  of  preaching,  would  saunter  in 
and  out  staying  as  long  as  they  pleased.  Feeling 
that  much  energy  and  time  might  be  more  fruitfully 
employed  with  quicker  results  from  the  seed  sow 
ing,  Mr.  Sowerby  rented  a  comfortable  private 
Chinese  dwelling  in  which  the  native  deacon  or 
evangelist  lived  and  the  guest  room  of  which,  at 
the  front,  was  used  to  receive  enquirers  after 
Christian  truth.  This  room  was  neatly  furnished 
in  Chinese  style  and  here  scholars,  tradesmen  and 
others  came,  read  the  papers  and  tracts,  and  en 
tered  into  conversation  with  the  evangelist  who 
was  on  duty  at  the  time.  This  method  has  become 
widely  prevalent  in  the  China  Mission  and  is  used 
more  frequently  than  the  street  chapel  preaching 
method.  In  this  way  much  more  direct  and  satis 
factory  results  have  often  been  obtained.  It  is  the 
individual  method  whereas  the  other  is  often  dealing 
with  a  restless,  passing  congregation.  And  where 
the  converts  are  zealous  and  faithful  in  seeking 
enquirers  among  their  friends  and  neighbors  and 
bringing  them  to  the  guest  hall  it  is  the  more  pro- 


Expanding  Opportunities  161 

ductive  form  of  evangelizing  if  the  right  man  is  on 
hand  to  instruct  the  enquirers. 

Death  of  One  of  the  First  Converts  in  Shasi.  In 
1890,  four  years  after  the  opening  of  the  work  in 
Shasi,  Mr.  Sowerby  while  on  a  visit  there  was  called 
upon  to  visit  one  of  the  first  Church  members  who 
lived  some  three  or  four  miles  out  in  the  country 
and  was  very  ill.  In  a  letter  to  the  Spirit  of  Missions 
he  wrote  the  following  touching  account  of  it. 
"This  old  man  has  never  failed  to  come  to  divine 
worship  or  Bible-class  except  when  ill,  walking  the 
whole  distance  and  back.  I  found  that  he  knew  he 
was  dying,  but  was  so  full  of  faith,  joy,  hope  and 
peace,  that  I  could  speak  freely  to  him  of  the  great 
change  he  would  so  shortly  undergo.  The  subject 
of  death  is  one  much  shunned  by  the  Chinese,  many 
thinking  that  the  mere  word  will  bring  trouble  on 
them;  but  he  has  for  some  few  years  been  a  most 
earnest  reader  of  the  whole  Bible  and  had  truly 
found  the  Saviour  for  himself.  I  mean  that  he  knew 
Christ,  and  the  power  and  comfort  of  prayer  and 
the  Word  of  God  as  a  personal  experience.  Many 
of  the  family  he  had  induced  to  become  Christian, 
and  he  was  well  known  by  all  around  to  be  a 
Christian. 

"I  have  stood  by  many  a  death-bed,  but  never  saw 
a  truer  witness  to  the  Saviour's  presence  in  the 
shadow  of  death.  I  felt  that  much  as  I  should  miss 
him  when  I  should  visit  Shasi,  for  he  always,  if  he 
could,  came  to  the  steamer  to  meet  me,  I  could  not 
but  thank  God  and  rejoice  to  think  that  the  first 


162         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

adult  convert  taken  from  us  by  death  was  so  true 
a  witness  to  the  saving  power  of  Christ.  I  felt 
him  to  be  a  kind  of  earnest,  being  the  first  fruits  in 
this  place  to  God.  If  those  at  home  who  take  an 
interest  in  the  Mission  could  have  known  this  old 
man,  and  seen  his  happy  death-bed — for  he  said  in 
spite  of  his  pain  that  he  was  full  of  joy ;  no  doctor, 
no  nurse,  nor  anything  that  we  should  call  comforts 
or  necessities,  but  yet  so  really  happy  in  the 
Saviour's  love — they  with  me  would  feel  that  all 
we  have  done  or  spent  was  well  worth  it  to  have 
brought  the  knowledge  of  Christ  to  him  of  whom 
we  may  well  say,  it  was  not  death  but  victory,  or 
in  his  own  words,  when  I  asked  him  if  he  was 
afraid,  'No  indeed !  It  is  not  death,  but  life,  I  am 
going  to  enter/  " 


FURTHER    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    UP- 
RIVER  WORK 

1889-1893 


CHAPTER   VI 

FURTHER    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    UP- 
RIVER  WORK 

1889-1893 

Training  Catechists  in  Hankow.  An  important 
development  begun  by  Mr.  Locke  and  further 
carried  out  under  Bishops  Ingle  and  Roots  was 
the  gathering  of  some  of  the  most  promising  of  the 
converts  and  training  them  as  workers.  At  first  it 
was  a  very  rudimentary  training  and  lasted  for  six 
months  only.  Upon  Mr.  Locke's  return  to  Hankow 
from  furlough  in  1889  he  started  this  work  again 
and  had  seven  evangelists  in  training.  These  lay 
workers  at  this  time  were  men  of  the  plain  people 
mostly — though  the  standard  of  scholarship  was 
considerably  raised  as  the  number  of  applicants 
increased.  The  advantages  of  such  workers  was 
evident  from  the  start  and  had  had  several  years 
of  practical  trial  under  the  famous  Presbyterian 
missionary,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nevius,  in  North  China. 
These  lay  workers  were  to  be  the  lieutenants  in 
the  army,  to  be  in  charge  of  advance  posts,  to  seek 
and  teach  the  heathen  and  prepare  them  for  Bap 
tism.  With  such  helpers  one  foreigner  could  be  in 
charge  of  a  chain  of  small  stations.  The  policy  was 


i66         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

to  send  these  trained  workers  as  far  as  possible  to 
localities  where  they  were  well  known  and  would 
not  be  suspected  of  being  anti-Manchu  agents  or 
foreign  emissaries.  They  could  succeed  where  the 
foreign  missionary  would  fail  and  won  the  friend 
ship  and  sympathy  of  the  people  of  a  new  neigh 
borhood  to  the  Church  long  before  they  saw  the 
curious  looking  foreigner  from  over  the  seas. 

The  Riot  Year— 1891.  The  storm  that  broke  out 
in  1891,  one  of  the  periodic  outbreaks  against 
foreigners  under  the  old  Manchu  regime,  had  its 
premonitory  warning  several  months  before.  In 
Wuchang  during  the  spring  of  1890  a  strong  anti- 
foreign  feeling  was  evident.  Anonymous  placards 
and  scurrilous  posters  suddenly  appeared  on  walls 
all  over  the  city  attacking  foreigners  and  their 
religion  in  a  most  shocking  and  vile  manner.  The 
people  were  urged  in  these  notices  to  rise  against 
the  foreigners  and  drive  them  out.  The  movement 
had  its  origin  in  Changsha,  the  capital  of  the  long 
closed  and  bitterly  anti-foreign  province  of  Hunan, 
next  to  Hupeh.  No  missionaries  (or  foreigners  of 
any  kind)  had  ever  been  allowed  to  enter  this  city 
of  Changsha,  and  it  was  not  considered  safe  for  a 
foreigner  even  to  pass  through  the  province.  This 
feeling  against  foreigners  was  worked  up  by  the 
literati  of  Changsha  assisted  by  financial  and  official 
help.  It  became  a  regular  movement  spreading  to 
neighboring  provinces  and  cities.  The  plan  fol 
lowed  was  to  secure  some  large  private  residence 
in  a  city  as  headquarters.  To  these  substations 


Development  of  the  Upriver  Work          167 

were  sent  large  quantities  of  the  printed  matter  and 
obscene  and  blasphemous  anti-Christian  colored 
cartoons  and  from  these  centers  agents  worked  in 
distributing  this  matter,  working  up  and  inflaming 
the  neighborhood.  During  the  night  worthless 
characters  went  about  with  glue  pots  and  pasted 
up  the  placards  throughout  the  city  and  gave  out 
song  books  and  hand  bills  during  the  day-time. 

When  this  crusade  reached  Wuchang  the  mis 
sionaries  there  had  considerable  difficulty  in  getting 
it  stopped.  The  work  of  pasting  and  distributing 
went  on  for  five  days  before  the  foreign  consuls 
in  Hankow  could  take  action  in  the  matter.  They 
sent  a  strong  remonstrance  to  the  Viceroy.  Before 
his  answer  came  the  city  magistrate  put  up  a  small 
notice  ordering  the  posting  of  anti-foreign  placards 
to  cease.  When  the  missionaries  came  to  examine 
this  notice  however  they  found  it  far  from  satis 
factory.  It  was  hardly  less  insulting  than  the  pla 
cards  themselves  and  showed  how  sympathetically 
officialdom  looked  upon  the  movement  and  how 
forced  was  their  condemnation  of  it.  It  read,  "You 
cannot  clear  the  water  by  stirring  up  the  mud  or 
purify  the  air  by  scattering  the  heaps  of  dust," 
which  interpreted  meant,  as  Mr.  Partridge  reported, 
"Although  this  filthy  mess  of  the  foreigner  and 
his  religion  is  in  the  midst  of  us,  we  cannot  help 
matters  at  all  by  irritating  them ;  leave  them  alone 
and  they  will  sink  together  to  the  bottom  of  the 
pure  waters  of  China/' 

After  the  delay  of  a  week  the  Viceroy  replied  by 


i68         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

ordering  the  arrest  and  prosecution  of  all  parties 
concerned  and  other  severe  measures.  The  result 
was  a  general  quieting  down  for  a  while  and  the 
threatening  trouble  was  temporarily  averted.  In  the 
meantime  however  the  fire  of  hatred  and  antagon 
ism  was  not  extinguished  but  was  smoldering  and 
spreading. 

A  Larger  Center  of  Population.  One  of  the  most 
impressive  sights  in  all  China  is  the  view  from  Han 
Yang  Hill.  It  is  not  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of 
its  scenery  although  the  low  stretching  hills,  the 
chain  of  lakes  and  the  winding  Han  flowing  into  the 
rushing  yellow  waters  of  the  mighty  Yangtse  River 
at  this  point1  present  an  impressive  panorama  to  the 
visitor.  But  the  Hill  is  so  situated  that  a  birdseye 
view  of  the  three  neighboring  cities  is  given  from 
its  summit.  Here  at  one  glance  is  seen  one  of  the 
largest  centers  of  human  life  and  activity  in  all 
Asia.  Immediately  at  one's  feet  rise  the  great  chim 
neys  and  flame  forth  the  furnaces  of  the  iron  works 
of  Han  Yang,  the  Pittsburgh  of  China.  Across  the 
narrow  Han  stretches  the  long  flat  city  of  Hankow, 
the  great  mart  of  trade.  To  the  right  beyond  the 
broad  Yangtse,  perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
wide,  is  the  proud  conservative  provincial  capital, 
Wuchang.  On  the  waters  of  the  two  rivers  lie 
countless  Chinese  craft  and  on  the  latter  go  to  and 
fro  the  great  foreign  river  and  ocean  steamers  and 
men-of-war.  To  the  missionary  the  scene  is  a  chal 
lenge  for  here  is  the  opportunity  to  plant  in  a  great 

1  Hankow  means  Han  Mouth. 


ALTAR    OF    ST.    PETER'S    CHURCH,    SHANGHAI 

WALL  AROUND   ST.    SAVIOUR'S   CHAPEL,    WUCHANG 

This   is   native   built   property,   purchased   and   adapted   for  church   uses 


Development  of  the  Up  river  Work         169 

center  influences  that  will  reach  far  and  wide  to 
all  parts  of  the  vast  nation. 

Development  and  Growth  in  the  City  of  Hankow. 
One  of  the  striking  features  of  the  years  1890-1891, 
was  the  growth  of  the  evangelistic  work  at  Hankow. 
For  a  period  of  twelve  months  Mr.  Locke  reported 
"We  have  in  one  year  brought  into  the  Church  nearly 
as  many  persons  as  the  entire  Mission  in  fifty  years 
and  a  larger  work  is  in  preparation  for  next  year.7' 
He  had  baptized  three  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
adults  in  eleven  months  and  in  four  stations  under 
his  charge  there  were  one  hundred  more  preparing 
for  Baptism.  He  had  prepared  fourteen  native 
evangelists  and  had  a  class  of  ten  more  in  prepara 
tion,  all  of  whom  were  recognized  as  scholars.  In 
St.  Bartholomew's  Church  House  (given  by  St. 
Bartholomew's  Church,  New  York  City)  sixty 
opium  cases  had  been  cured  and  hundreds  of  other 
patients  had  been  treated  in  the  dispensary.  There 
were  three  hundred  day  pupils  under  his  charge,  of 
whom  during  the  year  one  hundred  were  baptized. 

This  large  work  was  made  possible  by  the  wide 
use  of  the  native  evangelists  that  had  been  trained. 
"We  use  no  indirect  methods,"  wrote  Mr.  Locke  in 
The  Churchman.  "We  try  only  to  win  souls,  and 
to  build  them  up  in  the  most  direct  and  personal 
way  possible.  Distribution  of  tracts  and  Bibles,  giv 
ing  away  drugs,  general  hortatory  preaching  in  hos 
pital,  school  and  street  have  all  been  abandoned. 
Personal  conversational  work  in  the  guest-room, 
according  to  Chinese  usage,  has  been  substituted  for 


I/O         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

these  things,  and  the  daily  offices  of  the  Church  are 
used  in  the  school  and  in  the  Hospital.  The  five 
guest-rooms  in  Hankow  are  open  four  or  five  even 
ings  a  week,  gathering  an  average  of  one  hundred 
persons  for  religious  conversation  every  night.  The 
only  efficient  evangelists  for  Chinese  people  are  Chi 
nese  evangelists  and  lay  evangelization  is  rendered 
necessary  by  the  magnitude  of  the  field  and  the 
scantiness  of  the  means  supplied  for  the  work." 

This  larger  increase  in  the  number  of  converts  in 
Hankow  brought  freshened  interest  and  new  hope 
to  the  home  friends  of  the  China  Mission  but  it  was 
questioned  by  some  of  the  other  missionaries 
whether  it  was  wise  to  baptize  so  many  after  the 
short  time  of  preparation  required  then  in  Han 
kow.  It  was  feared  that  opium  eaters  and  other 
persons  addicted  to  vicious  habits  were  led  by 
unworthy  motives  in  seeking  and  finding  admission 
to  the  Church. 

Of  course  it  was  impossible  for  one  man  although 
he  had  two  good  native  deacons  assisting  him  to 
give  as  much  careful  attention  as  he  would  like  to 
the  preparation  and  examination  of  such  a  large 
number  of  converts.  Many  of  the  newcomers  fell 
away  in  after  years,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  present  strong  position  of  the  Mission  in 
Hankow  with  its  five  Churches  and  accompanying 
parish  work  strategically  placed  is  largely  due  to 
the  untiring  energy  and  zealous  work  of  the  one 
missionary  stationed  there  alone  in  a  day  of  big 
opportunity. 


Development  of  the  Upriver  Work         171 

Bishop  Boone  Plans  to  Move  to  Hankow.  Bishop 
Boone  was  much  encouraged  by  the  growth  in  Han 
kow  and  planned  to  move  there  permanently  where 
he  might  share  the  heavy  burden  borne  by  Mr. 
Locke.  Writing  home  of  it  he  reported :  "Time 
must  test  all  things ;  but  very  earnest  work  at  vari 
ous  points  by  better  trained  workers  led  and  inspired 
by  the  zeal  of  Mr.  Locke,  with  God's  blessing,  are 
fully  enough  to  justify  such  gains.  Other  missions 
flourish  in  Hankow,  and  go  slowly  in  an  official  cen 
ter  like  Wuchang,  so  that  so  far  we  share  the  same 
fortunes.  The  training  up  of  good  evangelists  to 
extend  and  build  up  this  growing  work  is  the  key 
to  success/' 

Anti-Foreign  Riots.  The  disturbances  of  1890 
which  had  emanated  from  Hunan  broke  out  again 
in  full  force  in  the  spring  of  1891.  Many  of  the  mis 
sion  stations  were  put  in  great  peril  by  the  wide 
spread  outbreaks.  The  main  cause  of  the  riots 
was  an  insurrection  against  the  Manchu  dynasty. 
The  revolutionists  thought  that  by  attacking  for 
eigners  at  various  points  they  could  involve  the 
Manchu  government  in  trouble  with  foreign  powers 
and  so  make  opportunities  where  they  could  strike 
a  successful  blow.  There  were  other  and  minor 
motives,  such  as  the  general  antipathy  to  foreigners 
and  animosity  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Mission 
because  of  its  tendency  to  interfere  in  local  politics 
and  law  suits  in  favor  of  its  converts,  but  the  main 
motive  was  so  to  embroil  the  government  with  for- 


The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

eign  nations  that  an  opportunity  for  civil  rebellion 
might  be  found. 

There  was  a  riot  in  Wuhu  but  our  Mission 
escaped.  At  Wusueh,  on  the  Yangtse  between 
Hankow  and  Kiukiang,  two  foreigners  were  killed, 
a  missionary  and  a  customs  officer,  and  the  English 
Wesleyan  Mission  House  was  burned.  A  riot  was 
threatened  in  Wuchang  but  after  many  anxious 
days  the  storm  passed  over  the  city.  In  Shanghai 
the  ladies  out  at  Jessfield  were  brought  into  the  set 
tlement  and  the  schools  were  dismissed  for  a  few 
days,  but  quiet  was  soon  restored. 

Destruction  of  the  Mission  Property  at  Ichang. 
It  was  the  newly  opened  station  at  Ichang  which  was 
destined  to  suffer  most  from  the  outbreak.  The  riot 
there  broke  out  on  September  the  3rd  and  our  mis 
sion  property  was  first  attacked.  Mrs.  Sowerby 
wrote  of  it  some  weeks  afterwards  as  follows :  "In 
regard  to  the  riot  there  was  no  notice  of  any  rising 
going  to  take  place.  In  the  morning  there  was  a 
rumor  that  the  Roman  sisters  had  stolen  a  child.  A 
child  had  been  given  them,  (for  the  orphanage,)  but 
they  found  it  was  a  boy  instead  of  a  girl ;  so  it  was 
sent  back  at  once  and  all  seemed  quiet.  At  twelve 
o'clock  the  riot  commenced  without  any  warning. 
They  got  into  our  place  by  breaking  down  the  gates 
with  large  boulder  stones,  so  as  to  get  into  the  con 
vent  at  the  back,  as  they  could  not  get  in  through 
their  front  entrance.  They  then  made  an  attack  on 
Mr.  Sowerby  himself,  throwing  large  boulders  at 
him ;  but  as  they  had  to  take  two  hands  to  lift  them, 


Development  of  the  Upriver  Work         173 

their  aim  was  not  sure.  Some  of  our  own  people  tried 
to  protect  him,  but  got  hurt  themselves ;  and  seeing 
how  things  were  going  to  turn  begged  him  to  run 
for  his  life.  This  he  had  to  do,  with  the  mob  chas 
ing  him,  some  of  the  stones  hitting  him,  and  being 
stunned  for  some  little  time,  but  getting  up  again 
and  again  falling,  and  the  last  time  he  fell,  seeing 
some  of  these  savages  standing  over  him  with  a 
large  stone  to  crush  him,  and  at  the  same  time  hear 
ing  the  mob  call  out  to  grab  him.  This  seemed  to 
give  him  new  life  and  he  staggered  on  to  the  Con 
sulate.  The  man,  having  missed  his  mark  in  hitting 
him,  and  rinding  the  cottagers  coming  in  to  protect 
Mr.  Sowerby,  turned  back.  Mr.  Sowerby  just  stag 
gered  into  the  Consulate,  and  fell  on  the  sofa,  as, 
besides  his  sprained  ankle,  his  cuts  and  bruises,  he 
had  a  touch  of  the  sun,  as  the  first  stone  knocked 
his  sunhat  off,  and  the  thermometer  was  102  degrees 
in  the  shade.  In  response  to  Mr.  Sowerby's  appeal 
"to  send  for  the  Sisters  they  are  being  murdered," 
the  consul  went  outside  and  saw  the  flames  ascend 
ing  from  our  house  and  the  Convent.  They  had  set 
fire  to  our  place  with  paraffin  which  was  in  bottles 
up  their  jacket  sleeves,  and  gun  powder.  The  sis 
ters  ran  out  of  their  front  entrance,  down  to  the 
river  and  were  badly  bruised  and  cut,  the  Mother 
Superior's  head  being  opened  to  the  bone.  One  of 
the  fathers  protected  them  as  much  as  he  could,  and 
he  was  badly  cut  too.  Some  of  the  sisters  had  their 
clothes  torn  off  their  backs  and  they  were  thrown 
down  the  embankment  to  the  river/'  The  priest 


174         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

and  sisters  were  saved  by  foreigners,  armed  with 
revolvers  who  put  off  in  a  boat  from  a  steamer  in 
the  river.  Many  of  the  houses  of  the  foreigners 
were  burned  at  the  same  time  and  the  Sowerbys 
lost  all  that  they  possessed." 

Death  of  Bishop  Boone.  In  the  midst  of  the  tense 
situation  in  China  the  Mission  and  Church  at  home 
were  startled  and  saddened  by  the  news  of  the  sud 
den  death  of  Bishop  Boone  in  Hankow  on  October 
5th,  1891,  from  typhoid  fever.  His  burdens  had 
been  too  great  for  man  to  bear — long  and  in  vain 
he  had  appealed  to  the  home  Church  for  help ;  the 
needs  of  China,  the  needs  of  the  Mission  and  the 
present  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  the  work  and  work 
ers  lay  heavily  on  his  heart.  Following  the  long 
strain  that  had  been  put  upon  him  came  a  short 
illness  of  three  days  and  then  came  the  call  of  a 
merciful  Master :  "Come  ye  apart  and  rest 
awhile."  During  the  summer  previous  to  his 
death  he  had  fainted  away  several  times  and  he 
remained  with  Mr.  Graves  in  Wuchang  to  pro 
tect  the  converts  and  property  long  after  all  felt 
that  it  was  not  safe,  on  account  of  the  threatened 
riots.  He  was  taken  ill  on  the  very  day  they  had 
decided  to  leave. 

The  Name  of  Boone.  The  Church  may  well  be 
proud  of  and  gratefully  cherish  the  name  of  Boone. 
As  the  elder  Bishop  had  been  a  pioneer  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Mission  in  China  so  the 
younger  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  work  in  Cen 
tral  China.  Once  before  in  Wuchang  his  health  had 


Development  of  the  Upriver  Work         175 

given  way  and  he  had  retired  to  America,  but  return 
ing  health  soon  found  him  back  in  China  again.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Bunn  who  was  associated  with  him  in 
Wuchang  in  the  seventies  thus  wrote  of  him : 

"His  policy  was  the  wise  one  his  father  inaugur 
ated — the  educational  policy.  He  was  a  devout  man 
and  a  strong  Churchman.  In  most  ways  he  was  not 
much  like  the  other  Bishops  of  Shanghai.  His  father 
was  a  leader  of  men ;  he  was  rather  a  shepherd.  He 
was  thoughtful  of  every  one,  even  in  small  matters. 
His  latest  letters  are  full  of  this  spirit.  He  was 
conservative  of  all  his  own  friendships,  and  aimed 
to  make  peace  and  promote  good  fellowship  in  his 
flock.  He  rejoiced  in  spirit  when  his  Chinese  Chris 
tians  developed  in  grace  or  told  him  of  their  suc 
cessful  work.  This  I  think  to  be  his  eminence,  that 
he  was  a  good  shepherd.  He  has  given  his  life  for 
the  sheep." 

Opening  of  the  Year  1892.  The  death  of  a  Bishop 
always  brings  a  peculiar  sense  of  desolation  and 
pause  to  the  China  Mission.  So  much  depends  upon 
him — all  the  new  policies  and  work  seek  his 
approval  and  encouragement  before  they  are 
launched.  It  seems  in  the  foreign  mission  field  far 
more  than  in  a  more  settled  work  that  the  head  of 
the  house  is  gone  when  the  Bishop  dies  and,  although 
the  workers  push  along  as  best  they  can,  the  mov 
ing,  energizing,  directing  authority  is  lacking. 

So  the  year  1892  opened  upon  a  saddened  though 
still  hopeful  little  group  in  the  China  Mission.  They 
were  looking  toward  the  future  and  the  glad  hour 


176         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

when  the  Church  would  do  greater  things  for  China 
and  when  what  was  done  would  receive  a  greater 
welcome  in  China.  Dr.  Merrins,  a  valuable  recruit, 
had  joined  the  Wuchang  staff  and  was  to  take  up 
again  the  medical  work  in  Wuchang  which  had  been 
interrupted  by  the  resignation  in  1890  of  Dr.  Deas 
because  of  ill-health.  Two  young  men,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Ingle  and  Rev.  Robert  K.  Massie  had  applied 
to  the  Board  in  1891  for  the  China  field  and  had  been 
told  there  were  no  funds  to  send  them.  In  fact  in 
February,  1891,  the  General  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Missions,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Langford,  had  announced 
that  there  were  several  applications  for  China  before 
the  Board  and  that  it  had  repeatedly  been  necessary 
to  discourage  those  who  wished  to  apply  for 
missionary  appointment  because  of  lack  of  funds ; 
while  at  the  same  time  the  work  was  in  need 
of  reinforcement.  The  harvest  was  white — the 
laborers  stood  ready  to  go — but  means  there  were 
none.  So  determined  were  Mr.  Ingle  and  Mr.  Mas 
sie  to  go  out  that  they  set  about  to  raise  their  sup 
port  themselves,  and  in  a  month  special  contribu 
tions  made  their  appointment  possible.  Both  of 
these  new  workers  were  sent  to  Shanghai,  but  soon 
Mr.  Ingle,  moved  by  the  splendid  opportunity  for 
evangelistic  work  in  Hankow  and  Mr.  Locke's 
urgent  need  of  help,  moved,  with  the  consent  of  the 
standing  committee,  to  this  station. 

The  Hankow  Church  Opened.  The  growing 
work  in  Hankow  called  for  a  larger  central  Church 
to  accommodate  the  congregation.  The  old  St. 


Development  of  the  Upriver  Work         177 

Paul's  Chapel  in  the  native  city  was  far  too  small 
and  inconvenient.  Bishop  Boone  and  Mr.  Locke 
had  been  keeping  this  need  before  the  home  Church, 
and  the  Board  of  Missions  had  authorized  an 
expenditure  to  $10,000  provided  the  money  could 
be  raised  by  special  contributions.  After  a  long 
time  of  waiting  part  of  the  money  came  in  and  the 
work  was  started.  To  the  erection  of  this  Church 
Mr.  Locke  gave  the  most  careful  supervision  and 
it  v/as  a  day  of  great  rejoicing  for  the  Hankow  flock 
and  staff  when  the  new  Church  was  opened  for  its 
first  service  on  January  24th,  1892.  It  was  the 
largest  Church  in  Central  China  and  has  accommo 
dated  at  one  special  evangelistic  service  as  many  as 
fourteen  hundred  men.  When  Hankow  became  a 
separate  missionary  jurisdiction  it  was  selected  by 
Bishop  Ingle  as  the  Cathedral  and  has  been  the 
scene  of  many  large  and  inspiring  services. 

Changes  at  Boone  School,  Wuchang.  Owing  to 
the  attitude  of  the  progressively  minded  Viceroy 
Chang  Tsz  Tung  and  his  commercial  and  educa 
tional  operations  in  the  Wu-Han  (Wuchang,  Han 
kow  and  Han  Yang)  center  there  had  begun  to  be 
an  increased  demand  for  English.  A  School  oi 
Chemistry  had  been  opened,  a  large  cotton  mill 
erected  by  the  Viceroy  in  Wuchang,  and  important 
iron  works  started  in  Han  Yang.  As  soon  as  these 
enterprises  were  operating  the  Chinese  saw  that  a 
knowledge  of  the  English  language  would  be 
useful  and  that  a  further  education  than  that 
afforded  by  the  Chinese  classics  would  be  neces- 


178         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

sary.  Seeing  the  trend  of  things  Mr.  Partridge 
added  an  English  pay  department  to  Boone  School. 
At  first  the  new  students  were  asked  to  pay  for 
books  and  food  only — but  gradually  the  cost  of 
tuition  was  added.  The  experiment  was  success 
ful  from  the  start.  Forty  pupils  applied,  sons  of 
scholars  and  of  merchants.  From  that  time,  1892, 
Boone  began  to  move  steadily  toward  self-support 
and  its  present  position  as  Boone  University. 

Visit  of  Bishop  Hare.  In  1891,  Bishop  Hare  of 
South  Dakota  was  making  his  second  visit  to  Japan 
in  the  absence  of  a  Bishop  over  that  Jurisdiction. 
Upon  the  death  of  Bishop  Boone  the  Board  of  Mis 
sions  requested  him  as  its  agent  to  extend  his  visit 
to  China.  Some  of  his  report  to  the  Board  is  of  per 
manent  interest  and  value : 

"I  am  very  favorably  impressed  with  the  char 
acter  and  ability  of  the  Mission  force  and  think  that 
here,  as  in  Japan,  the  wise  method  of  work  is  not  the 
sending  of  many  workers,  of  whom  not  a  few  will 
of  course  be  persons  of  small  gifts  and  little  force, 
but  the  careful  selection  of  a  picked  few  who  have 
ability  and  training  sufficient  to  enable  them  to 
occupy  important  points  of  central  influence, 
whether  institutional,  evangelistic  or  pastoral,  and 
to  work  in  them  and  out  from  them  by  means  of 
native  helpers.  The  expense  of  each  such  head  and 
his  native  staff  as  compared  with  the  expense  of 
the  same  number  of  foreign  workers  would  be  about 
one-third ;  the  loss  from  physical  prostration,  break 
down,  and  returns  home  almost  nothing;  and  the 


Development  of  the  Upriver  Work         179 

efficiency  incomparably  greater.  *  *  *  I  trust  that 
the  Church  has  learned  the  lesson  that  only  care 
fully  selected  persons,  just  the  persons  whom  every 
body  wants  to  keep  at  home  are  those  who  should 
be  sent  out  to  such  foreign  fields  as  China  and  Japan. 
The  missionaries  from  home  should  have  the  gifts 
and  training  which  will  fit  them  to  act  as  leaders  in 
their  several  spheres  and  teachers  of  natives  who 
shall  first  be  their  assistants  and  eventually  succeed 
to  their  places."  These  words  are  as  true  to-day  as 
they  were  twenty-two  years  ago. 

Speaking  of  St.  John's  College  he  said :  "Chinese 
youth  here  assumed  to  me  a  new  aspect  and  I  felt 
that  I  could  draw  them  to  me  in  a  paternal  embrace, 
a  feeling  I  must  confess  I  never  experienced  before, 
however  much  the  Chinese  may  have  excited  my 
benevolent  feelings." 

In  reference  to  the  large  growth  in  the  number  of 
converts  in  Hankow  he  said:  "I  reached  the  con 
clusion,  after  considerable  questioning  of  Mr.  Locke 
and  his  three  deacons,  that  a  real  religious  influ 
ence  had  been  awakened,  that  this  interest  was  on 
a  low  plane  and  had  little  spirituality  in  it,  but  on  a 
plane  much  higher  than  the  subjects  of  the  move 
ment  had  ever  known  before,  that  the  persons  con 
cerned  had  actually  enlisted  themselves  as  pupils 
in  the  school  of  Christ  and  were  ready  to  be  taught 
and  led;  that  considerable  enthusiasm  and  esprit 
du  corps  and  the  cheery  confidence  which  comes 
from  feeling  that  one  is  connected  with  a  successful 
work  had  been  aroused ;  and  that  if  the  work  can  be 


i8o        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

maintained  and  the  converts  kept  in  hand,  a  large 
number  of  them  would  become  established  Chris 
tians. 

"Let  the  Church  buildings  be  so  constructed  that 
there  should  be  a  distinct  part  set  aside  for  the 
faithful  and  another  part  for  the  catechumens ;  let 
there  be  a  service  for  the  reception  of  catechumens 
and  then  seat  them  in  the  Church  in  the  part 
reserved.  Fellowship  would  thus  be  given  them 
and  they  would  seem  to  themselves  to  have  com 
mitted  themselves  to  the  Church,  and  the  Church 
to  have  committed  itself  to  them.  Such  a  practice 
prevailed  in  the  early  Church,  and  has  been  used 
with  advantage  in  some  parts  of  the  mission  field 
in  the  present  day/' 

Seating  in  the  Church.  This  course  prevailed 
and  has  been  developed  and  widely  used  in 
Central  China  by  Mr.  Ingle  and  his  successors. 
In  fact  it  has  become  the  Mission  custom.  The 
churches,  however,  are  not  specially  constructed. 
The  seating  is  arranged  as  follows  :  A  certain  num 
ber  of  pews  in  front  are  reserved  for  the  confirmed 
and  baptized.  Behind  them  sit  the  catechumens  and 
behind  them  still,  the  enquirers.1  The  women  and 
men  are  separated  and  sit  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
middle  aisle. 


*To  the  side  at  first  was  a  bench  known  as  the  penitent's 
bench  where  Christians  under  discipline,  if  any,  were  seated. 


FORGING  AHEAD 
1893-1895 


CHAPTER  VII 

FORGING  AHEAD 

1893-1895 

The  New  Bishop.  Early  in  March,  1893,  the  good 
news  was  sent  to  the  Mission  in  China  that  the 
House  of  Bishops  had  chosen  a  leader  for  them 
from  among  their  own  number.  The  Rev.  F.  R. 
Graves  had  gone  to  China  ten  years  before  and  so 
brought  a  ripe  experience  to  his  new  duties  as  mis 
sionary  Bishop.  In  company  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  McKim,  the  Bishop  Elect  of  Yeddo,  Japan, 
he  was  consecrated  in  St.  Thomas'  Church,  New 
York  City,  on  June  14th,  1893.  The  election  of 
Bishop  Graves  brought  confidence  and  renewed 
hope  to  the  workers  in  China.  "We  are  sure,"  wrote 
the  Standing  Committee  in  their  report,"that  Bishop 
Graves  will  be  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  His 
acquaintance  with  the  Chinese  language  and  litera 
ture  will  give  him  prominence  and  influence,  and 
his  knowledge  of  the  sentiments  of  the  Church  will 
incline  him  to  a  liberal  policy  while  his  firmness  of 
character  and  impartiality  of  judgment  qualify  him 
to  rule  well  the  affairs  of  the  Missions  both  eccle 
siastic  and  secular." 

Arranging  the  Work.     The  Bishop  arranged  his 

183 


184         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

little  band  of  workers  as  best  he  could  but  it  was 
an  impossible  task  to  make  them  "go  around/'  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Locke  was  impelled  to  leave  China  to  make 
some  provision  for  the  care  of  his  children  and  later 
resigned  from  the  Mission.  This  left  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ingle,  with  but  a  few  months'  experience  in  China, 
in  charge  of  the  important  work  at  Hankow.  There 
was  another  riot  at  Ichang  and  it  was  deemed  inad 
visable  for  Mr.  Sowerby  to  return  there.  He  was, 
accordingly,  placed  in  charge  of  Boone  School, 
Wuchang,  with  oversight  of  the  outstations  in 
Ichang  and  Shasi,  but  this  work  in  his  impaired 
state  of  health  he  was  not  able  to  carry  very  long. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Partridge  was  given  charge  of  the 
Theological  School  and  the  parish  church  of  the 
Holy  Nativity  in  Wuchang.  A  trained  nurse,  Miss 
Florence  McRae,  had  joined  the  staff  at  Wuchang 
and  Dr.  Merrins  in  charge  of  the  medical  work  was 
pleading  for  a  proper  men's  hospital  on  the  Mission 
compound  to  take  the  place  of  the  native  buildings 
near  the  Fu  Kai  (Happiness  Street)  where  Dr.  Deas 
had  conducted  the  medical  work.  A  new  recruit 
destined  for  Wuhu,  the  Rev.  H.  C.  Collins,  was  liv 
ing  in  Hankow  learning  the  language  and  Bishop 
Graves  had  also  decided  to  live  there. 

Development  at  St.  John's.  St.  John's  had  devel 
oped  under  efficient  leadership  into  a  college — with 
a  four  years'  preparatory  department  and  a  collegi 
ate  course  of  three  years.  In  fact  it  was  now  a  young 
university,  as  a  theological  department  had  been 
recently  added  and  there  was  a  medical  school  in 


Forging  Ahead  185 

Hongkew  under  Dr.  Boone.  The  college  had  out 
grown  and  one  might  say  outworn  the  modest 
buildings  in  which  Bishop  Schereschewsky  had 
begun  St.  John's  School  in  1879.  Mr.  Pott  had  pre 
sented  the  need  for  new  buildings  to  the  home 
Church  while  on  furlough  in  1892-93  and  had 
secured  about  $20,000  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable 
structure.  With  this  was  erected  the  first  of  the 
group  of  the  present  St.  John's,  a  dignified  center 
around  which  is  growing  a  good  equipment. 

Woman's  Auxiliary  Organized.  A  happy  event 
of  the  year  1893  was  the  visit  of  Mrs.  Twing,  the 
Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  to 
Shanghai.  While  there  she  organized  the  first  Chi 
nese  branch  of  the-  Society.  Writing  of  the  meeting 
she  said :  "I  think  I  may  safely  say  that  I  never 
had  a  happier  hour  than  this  afternoon  when  Mr. 
Graves  walked  into  the  church,  as  I  was  explaining 
to  a  large  congregation  of  Christian  women  and  girls 
that  almost  filled  it,  about  the  Woman's  Auxiliary, 
Mr.  Thomson  interpreting.  The  sun  was  shining  in 
at  the  open  doors  and  windows,  the  birds  were  sing 
ing  delightfully,  the  Chapel  was  fresh  and  lovely, 
all  the  women  and  girls  were  in  their  best,  and  look 
ing  so  interested  and  intelligent,  and  it  seemed  a 
charming  welcome  to  their  new  Bishop-elect  and  a 
promise  of  future  help  in  his  work  from  his  own 
people,  that  could  not  but  have  been  most  cheering 
and  encouraging.  He  spoke  beautifully  to  them 
afterwards  and  so  did  Mr.  Thomson,  and  the  ser 
vice  was  so  nice  and  hearty,  and  the  singing  so 


1 86         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

good.  Indeed,  in  every  way  it  was  as  good  a  meet 
ing  as  I  ever  went  to  in  the  Auxiliary." 

Services  for  Foreigners  in  Hankow.  Our  mis 
sionaries  had  long  realized  the  spiritual  needs  of 
their  own  countrymen  in  China  who  were  there  for 
business  or  in  Customs  service.  Dr.  Nelson  had 
ministered  for  many  years  in  this  work  at  the  Church 
of  our  Saviour,  Shanghai,  but  upriver  the  force  of 
workers  had  been  too  scanty  to  do  much  English 
work.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Ingle  early  showed  his  special 
interest  in  his  own  people  in  Hankow  and  on  his 
first  Easter  there  (1893)  arranged  an  evening  ser 
vice  for  them  in  the  new  St.  Paul's  Chinese  Church, 
which  was  continued  every  Sunday  evening  until 
the  Mission  assumed  full  charge  of  all  Church  of 
England  services  for  foreigners  in  St.  John's  Eng 
lish  Church. 

The  service  was  made  as  bright  and  attractive  as 
possible  and  the  English  residents  responded  well  to 
this  effort  for  them.  Writing  home  of  this  new 
departure  Mr.  Ingle  said :  "No  one  at  home  has  any 
conception  of  the  temptations  to  careless  and 
ungodly  living  to  which  foreigners  here  are  exposed, 
and  while  we  fully  realize,  that  we,  as  missionaries, 
come  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  we  are 
unwilling  to  lose  an  opportunity  of  stretching  out  a 
helping  hand  to  those  of  our  own  blood.  So  we  try 
to  make  this  service  an  attractive  one,  that  we  may 
win  souls  to  Christ." 

Nowhere  do  the  people  of  our  own  race  need 
Christian  sympathy,  ministry  and  help  more  than  in 


Forging  Ahead  187 

the  port  cities  of  the  East.  In  those  cities  the  worst 
of  the  West  and  the  worst  of  East  meet  and  the  condi 
tions  often  justify  the  description  given  them  of 
"hell  on  earth."  Even  in  the  smaller,  interior  ports 
there  is  a  subtle  yet  marked  retrogression  in  life 
and  character.  A  missionary  in  India  once  said  that 
there  is  more  religion  to  the  square  yard  on  the 
banks  of  the  Suez  Canal  than  on  any  other  equal 
area  in  the  world,  because  so  many  Western  Chris 
tians  take  off  their  religion  there  and  take  it  up  again 
on  their  way  home.  Religious  work  among  the 
foreigners  in  China  is  much  more  difficult  and  dis 
couraging  than  work  among  the  Chinese,  but  it  is 
very  necessary  not  only  for  the  sake  of  our  brothers 
themselves  but  for  the  sake  of  their  example  before 
the  Chinese. 

Thus  began  in  the  upriver  district  a  work  that 
was  to  be  continued  without  interruption  and  which 
was  gradually  to  become  an  important  part  of  the 
Mission  activities  not  only  in  Hankow  but  in  all  the 
ports  where  foreigners,  many  of  whom  were  affili 
ated  with  the  Church  of  England,  were  resident. 

The  First  Mission  Conference.  In  February,  1894, 
Bishop  Graves  called  together  all  the  foreign  work 
ers  in  the  mission  for  consultation.  A  number  of 
vexed  questions  were  settled  at  this  time  and  the 
widely  scattered  missionaries  came  to  feel  more 
strongly  than  before  the  oneness  of  their  work.  The 
need  of  reinforcements  was  uppermost  in  every 
mind.  Several  of  the  mission  institutions  were 
closed  because  of  the  lack  of  workers  to  man  them. 


i88         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

There  were  almost  no  women  to  oversee  and  develop 
the  work  among  women.  The  male  converts  were 
increasing  but  there  were  very  few  women  converts. 
In  the  churches  and  chapels  out  of  deference  to 
Church  custom  the  women  sat  on  one  side  of  the 
Church  and  the  men  on  the  other.  At  that  time 
there  was  also  in  the  interior  stations  a  series  of 
screens  dividing  the  two  parts  of  the  congregation. 
At  service  time  the  men's  side  was  well  filled  but 
the  woman's  side  was  practically  empty.  The  work 
ers  realized  that  there  would  not  be  a  Christian 
China  until  there  were  Christian  homes,  and  that 
there  would  not  be  Christian  homes  until  there  were 
Christian  mothers,  and  that  there  would  not  be 
Christian  mothers  until  there  were  women  workers 
from  home  in  whose  hearts  was  the  love  of  Christ 
to  give  themselves  for  this  work.  And  now  even 
the  evangelistic  work  among  men  had  come  to  a 
standstill.  It  could  proceed  no  further.  "We  have 
ceased  to  educate  more  theological  students,"  wrote 
the  new  Bishop,  "for  want  of  American  clergymen 
to  oversee  them  efficiently  in  their  evangelistic 
work.  We  do  not  intend  to  evangelize  China  by 
foreign  missionaries  alone,  but  through  our  native 
ministry.  What  we  ask  of  the  Church  is  enough 
men  to  oversee  them  in  their  work."  Ten  workers 
were  asked  for  immediately  by  the  Conference.  This 
did  not  provide  for  enlargement  but  simply  for  the 
efficient  carrying  on  of  work  that  has  already  been 
begun. 
The  Work  of  Training.  The  work  in  Boone 


REV.  Y.  T.  FU  REV.  T.   K.  HU 

CHINESE  PRESBYTERS 


Forging  Ahead  189 

School  and  the  Divinity  School  had  gone  quietly 
and  steadily  forward.  Mr.  Partridge  drew  a  true 
picture  of  it.  "Only  those  who  really  know  what 
the  problem  is  here,  appreciate  the  work  of  hours 
and  hours,  days  and  days,  weeks  and  months,  spent 
in  a  Chinese  class-room  instructing  a  few  catechists 
and  deacons  and  attempting  to  develop  and 
strengthen  character.  It  is  the  all-essential  foundation 
work,  which  does  not  show  much  on  the  surface, 
and  which  is  hard  and  slow  and  discouraging  to 
those  engaged  in  it;  but  we  struggle  steadily  on  in 
faith,  for  we  know  that  the  superstructure  must 
eventually  rest  upon  what  we  are  accomplishing 
now,  and  quality  is  far  more  essential  than  quan 
tity  at  this  stage  of  the  Church's  progress  in 
China/' * 

Ordinations  in  1896.  Three  candidates  for  Holy 
Orders,  Li,  Hu  and  Tsen,  were  ordained  on  the 
Feast  of  Sts.  Simon  and  Jude  in  1896.  The  abundant 
promise  that  they  gave  nearly  twenty  years  ago  has 
been  more  than  fulfilled  and  years  of  wise  and  fruit 
ful  labor  have  been  the  result.  One  of  them  is  now 
the  priest  in  charge  of  the  Church's  outpost  Shihnan 
in  Western  Hupeh  (a  station  ten  days  distant  from 
Ichang),  another  is  the  Chinese  rector  of  All  Saints' 
Training  School  for  Catechists  at  Hankow,  and  the 

1  The  splendid  native  clergymen  we  have  now  in  China 
who  were  trained  at  this  time  give  ample  evidence  of  the 
spirit  in  which  that  work  of  training  was  done.  It  is  difficult 
to  see  how  any  better  work  could  have  been  done  for  the 
Church  in  China  than  the  training  of  these  men  by  Bishops 
Graves  and  Partridge. 


190         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

third  is  still  doing  telling  work  in  the  city  of  Wuhu 
to  which  he  was  assigned  at  the  time  of  his  ordina 
tion.  One  rejoices  in  these  men  and  others  like 
them  in  the  native  ministry  in  China.  They  are  the 
hope  of  the  Church  in  China,  the  foundations  upon 
which  humanly  speaking  the  building  not  made 
with  hands  must  rest.  They  are  a  promise  of  the 
future  of  the  Chinese  race  when  it  shall  be  Chris 
tianized.  When  one  who  knows  them  thinks  of 
their  spiritual  power,  their  ability  as  preachers  and 
as  administrators  he  feels  the  hope  warranted  that 
when  China  is  won  for  Christ  it  is  to  be  the  great 
est  Christian  nation,  not  only  in  point  of  numbers 
but  in  point  of  Christian  activity  and  power  for 
Christ,  in  the  world. 

The  First  Training  School  for  Bible  Women.  At 
the  Mission  Conference  in  1894  Miss  Dodson  read 
a  paper  on  the  need  of  trained  native  Bible  women. 
She  thus  forcibly  stated  the  situation :  "In  the  first 
place,  no  one  has  come  out  for  this  special  work  of 
training  Bible  women,  and  those  who  have  taken 
it  up  have  not  been  free  to  give  their  whole  and  un 
divided  time  to  it.  We  have  gone  on  from  year  to 
year,  hoping  something  could  be  done  in  the  future 
to  strengthen  our  woman's  work,  until  now  half 
a  century  has  gone  by,  and  very  little  done.  Shall 
we  quietly  wait  another  half  century?  I  say  no. 
But  if  we  wait  for  the  command  to  go  forward  to 
come  from  the  home  land,  it  may  never  come. 
The  present  state  of  our  girls'  day-schools  and 
Bible  women  is  sad  and  hopeless.  It  is  a  failure, 


Forging  Ahead  191 

that  is,  when  you  look  at  it  from  a  forty-nine  years 
old  standpoint.  We  have  good  and  worthy 
women  in  our  native  Church,  women  that  we  are 
proud  of,  but  our  Bible  women  and  teachers  do  not 
understand  their  business.  The  eight  widows 
employed  as  teachers  of  day  schools  and  as  Bible 
women  in  the  Shanghai  branch  of  our  Mission  are 
far  from  giving  satisfaction/' 

As  the  result  of  Miss  Dodson's  appeal  which 
was  published  in  America  the  Woman's  Auxiliary 
raised  part  of  the  funds  for  a  training  school  in 
Shanghai  and  the  remainder  was  raised  by  Bishop 
Graves.  So  a  new  and  important  department  to 
the  Mission  work  was  organized.  The  School  when 
completed  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  new  worker, 
Miss  Lillis  Crummer,  who  showed  then  the  promise, 
and  for  many  years  the  fulfilled  reality,  of  splendid 
qualifications  for  the  important  work  of  training. 

The  new  work  was  opened  in  September  1897. 
The  first  class  was  a  test  class — composed  of  four 
resident  women  and  one  day  student.  "It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say,"  wrote  Miss  Crummer, 
"that  these  women  are  all  widows,  for  it  has  been 
so  often  stated  that  only  widows  are  eligible  to  a 
school  of  this  kind,  as  they  only  are  able  to 
command  the  respect  of  the  people  when  they  go 
out  to  do  Bible  women's  work.  Married  women, 
of  course,  could  do  the  same,  but  they  are  not  free 
to  leave  their  home  ties  and  devote  themselves  to 
such  training  and  practical  work."  In  addition 
to  those  in  training  some  outside  women  came  in 


192         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

for  instruction.  "We  will  see,"  Miss  Crummer  con 
tinued,  "whether  they  will  be  profited  by  it  and 
made  better  Churchwomen  with  a  zeal  for  gather 
ing  in  others  for  the  harvest  and  not  be  like  one 
old  Christian  p'o  p'o  (old  lady)  I  knew  not  long 
ago,  who  was  the  only  Christian  in  her  village,  and 
was  anxious  to  keep  the  honor  all  to  herself!" 

We  admit  that  this  convert  was  not  very  far 
advanced  in  the  Christian  life  but  she  had  advanced 
as  far  as  her  more  favored  but  equally  exclusive 
sister  in  America  who  once  asked  her  Bishop  if 
some  rule  could  not  be  made  whereby  people  who 
had  not  been  born  in  the  Episcopal  Church  could 
be  kept  out  of  it. 

The  mornings  in  the  Training  School  were  spent 
in  study  of  the  Bible  and  Church  doctrines.  The 
women  did  the  work  in  the  house,  except  the  cook 
ing.  A  cook  was  provided  so  that  the  meals  might 
be  served  on  time.  "This,"  said  Miss  Crummer,  "to 
the  Western  mind,  is  the  most  natural  way  to  serve 
them,  but  it  is  not  Chinese,  for  they  seem  to  cook 
and  eat  at  all  times  of  the  day  and  night."  The 
afternoons  were  spent  in  getting  practical  experi 
ence — visting  the  patients  at  the  woman's  hospital, 
at  the  dispensary,  in  classes  for  teaching  the 
heathen  and,  when  weather  permitted,  the  surround 
ing  villages. 

At  the  end  of  six  months  both  Miss  Crummer 
and  Bishop  Graves  were  pleased  with  the  result. 
The  conduct  and  progress  of  the  women  were  satis 
factory — and  it  was  proven  that  women  of  mature 


Forging  Ahead  193 

years  were  capable  of  successful  training  and  that 
women  of  Shanghai  and  upriver  districts  could  be 
trained  together.  The  Bishop  said  of  it  at  the  end  of 
this  period,  "The  institution  has  run  like  clockwork 
since  it  was  started.  It  has  now  passed  the  stage  of 
experiment,  and  may  be  said  to  have  solved  the 
question  of  the  training  of  women  for  this  Mission/' 
Power  of  the  Teacher's  Example.  And  Miss 
Crummer  in  her  bright,  characteristic,  capable  way 
which  so  endeared  her  to  her  many  friends  wrote 
of  the  experiment  after  describing  the  course  of 
study,  etc. :  "Thus  I  have  tried  so  far  in  a  poor 
way  to  tell  you  what  lessons  they  have  learned  in 
these  six  months.  Now  I  want  to  tell  you  what 
great  lesson  /  have  learned.  It  is  this,  that  the 
power  of  example  is  to  be  one  of  the  strongest  fac 
tors  in  developing  these  women  into  useful  and 
efficient  helpers  in  the  Mission  field.  I  have  noticed 
that  as  I  have  been  earnest  and  industrious  so  have 
they  been  earnest  and  industrious.  As  I  have  been 
prompt  and  regular  at  all  the  services,  so  have 
they  been.  As  I  have  allowed  other  things  to 
interfere  with  my  work,  or  have  become  lax  for 
a  time  on  account  of  the  trying  climate,  I  have  im 
mediately  noticed  a  laxity  on  their  part.  Although 
advanced  in  years  they  are  still  children,  and  must 
be  led  and  taught  as  such.  I  have  also  learned  that 
women  of  their  age  can  live  together  in  harmony, 
which  was  a  mooted  question  at  first.  I  think  the 
secret  is  keeping  them  busy  and  a  little  tired,  so 
that  they  have  not  the  inclination  to  gossip  and 


194         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

discuss  one  another.  Of  course  the  whole  scheme 
so  far  is  a  trial,  but  after  six  months  I  am  pleased, 
and  I  am  sure,  if  we  do  our  duty,  blessings  will 
fall  on  the  work,  and  the  Church  Training  School 
for  Women  will  prosper." 

It  has  now  long  passed  the  stage  of  experiment 
and  for  sixteen  years  has  been  making  work  among 
Chinese  women  by  Chinese  women  under  foreign 
oversight  possible  and  fruitful. 


THE    WAR    WITH    JAPAN— AND    ITS    FAR 

REACHING  EFFECT  UPON  THE 

CHINA  MISSION 

1895-1898 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    WAR    WITH    JAPAN— AND    ITS    FAR 

REACHING  EFFECT  UPON  THE 

CHINA  MISSION 

1895-1898 

In  1895  occurred  one  of  the  most  momentous 
events  in  the  long  history  of  China.  For  eighty 
years  missionaries  had  been  trying  to  spread 
Christianity  in  the  Empire.  For  an  even  longer 
period  foreign  nations  had  been  knocking  at  the 
doors  of  China.  The  nation  was  asleep — occasion 
ally  there  were  evidences  that  the  slumber  of  cen 
turies  was  being  disturbed — but  after  each  disturbance 
there  was  the  inclination  to  take  another  nap.  The 
war  with  Japan  was  the  sharp,  sudden  blow  on  the 
head  that  forever  awakened  the  sleeping  giant. 
Before  that  China  had  moved  on  her  way  self-satisfied, 
proud,  disdainful  of  the  nations  of  the  West,  ignor 
ant,  cruel,  oppressed  by  corrupt  rulers, — Christian 
mission  work  like  every  other  form  of  foreign  inter 
course  was  like  butting  the  head  against  a  stone 
wall.  It  was  rather  hard  on  the  head  but  it  made 
very  little  impression  on  the  wall. 

But  the  forces  were  at  work  to  make  the  new 
China.  The  spread  of  the  Truth  that  was  to  make 

>97 


198         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

men  free,  the  comparative  view  of  the  world  that 
Chinese  students  abroad  were  getting — the  touch 
of  foreign  diplomacy  and  commerce  was  making  an 
impression  on  China  and  already  the  seeds  were 
being  sown  in  many  a  mission  school  (as  in  the 
Anglican  Mission  School  in  Honolulu  in  which  the 
Sun  Yat  Sen  was  a  student)  which  were  later  to 
germinate  and  bring  forth  much  and  mighty  fruit — 
but  the  process  was  slow  and  needed  just  such  a 
hurrying  up  as  the  disastrous  war  with  Japan 
involved. 

Then  it  was,  in  the  fight  over  Korea,  that  China, 
the  proud  mistress  of  races,  as  she  had  thought 
herself  to  be,  was  ignominiously  defeated  by  her 
despised  little  island  neighbor.  Here  the  Goliath 
of  the  Orient  was  laid  low  by  the  stripling  from  the 
Eastern  Sea.  It  was  a  bitter  blow  but  it  was  a 
saving  one  for  China.  It  did  not  take  some  of  the 
bright  younger  men  of  China  long  to  see  that 
Japan's  victory  was  due  to  her  adoption  of  Western 
methods.  Japan  had  been  going  to  school  to  the 
despised  foreigner  and  Japan's  contact  with  Europe 
and  America  and  her  careful  study  of  their  arts  and 
sciences  and  especially  of  their  military  ways  had 
made  her  strong  with  a  strength  against  which  the 
old  Chinese  army  could  not  cope.  To  be  sure  the 
umbrella,  fan,  bow  and  arrows  of  the  old  Chinese 
soldier  had  been  replaced  by  modern  ( ?)  German 
weapons  of  warfare,  but  the  most  of  the  money  for 
the  purchase  of  modern  equipment  given  the  army 
department  had  gone  into  the  purses  of  the  officials 


The  War  With  Japan  199 

and  useless  antiquated  weapons  and  ammunition 
for  a  low  price  had  been  purchased  instead. 

"All  the  world,"  said  a  writer  in  the  North  China 
Herald  after  the  war,  "knows  that  China,  though 
huge,  is  very  weak;  that  she  is  weak  because  she 
feeds  her  mandarins  and  people  upon  falsehood 
instead  of  truth,  on  ignorance  instead  of  know 
ledge,  on  hatred  to  all  outside  China  instead  of  good 
will,  on  opposition  and  misrepresentation  of  all 
Christian  philanthropists  instead  of  gratitude  and 
friendship. 

"What  then  is  the  remedy?  Let  China  ask  her 
self  how  it  is  that  a  country  one-tenth  her  size  has 
almost  paralyzed  her  trade  and  forced  her  prac 
tically  to  give  up  Korea?  The  method  adopted  by 
Japan  must  take  the  place  of  the  haphazard  govern 
ment  now  in  vogue ;  foreign  inventions  and  power 
must  be  taken  into  consideration,  friendly  relation 
ship  with  civilized  powers  must  be  cultivated  and 
information  must  be  allowed  to  take  the  place  of 
the  terrible  ignorance  that  lies  like  a  pall  on 
China." 

Fortunately  for  China  her  own  leaders  were  be 
ginning  to  realize  what  the  writer  in  the  English 
newspaper  in  Shanghai  referred  to  above  and  what 
all  alert  foreigners  in  China  had  seen.  They 
realized  her  weakness  and  saw  that  their  country 
was  in  imminent  danger  of  being  sliced  up  like  Poland 
among  foreign  powers.  Clearheaded,  thoughtful  men 
among  them  saw  that  China  could  not  go  along  in 
the  old  ways,  that  if  ruin  and  anarchy  were  to  be 


2oo         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

averted  something  must  be  done.  Thereupon 
arose  a  widespread  cry  for  reform  and  the  bigoted, 
intolerant  literati  were  doomed  with  the  old  regime. 
The  conservatives  were  in  power  again  from  the 
time  of  the  coup  d'etat  of  1898  and  the  deposition 
of  the  young  Emperor  Kwang  Su  until  the  failure 
of  the  Boxer  Movement  in  1900,  but  from  the  time 
of  the  Japanese  War  their  power  began  to  wane. 
Progress  and  reform  were  in  the  air. 

The  War  and  Missions.  Terrible  as  were  the 
evils  of  war  the  missionaries  felt  that  the  reforms 
that  it  was  bound  to  bring  about  would  more  than 
compensate  its  ills.  The  evils  which  daily  beset 
the  Chinese  people  were  far  worse  than  the  horrors 
of  the  battle-field.  The  latter  must  have  an  end, 
but  famines,  dire  poverty,  injustice  and  oppression 
had  never  ceased  through  long  centuries  of  misrule 
and  official  corruption.  Any  war  that  could  help 
sweep  away  China's  terrible  sorrows  would  be  a 
blessing.  The  friends  of  China  hoped  that  the 
humiliation  of  her  pride  might  bring  in  a  better  day. 
They  hoped  too  that  China's  leaders  might  see,  as 
the  rest  of  the  world  saw,  that  China's  failure  was 
not  only  a  military  and  administrative  one,  but  a 
moral  failure,  that  what  was  needed  was  a  new 
moral  force  and  that  this  would  be  found  only  in 
the  Christian  religion. 

"We  are  looking  forward  to  glorious  opportuni 
ties  for  extending  missionary  work  as  the  result  of 
this  war,"  Archdeacon  Wolfe  of  South  China  wrote 
to  England.  "I  consider  this  war  as  the  best  thing 


The  War  With  Japan  201 

imaginable  for  China  and  the  Chinese  people 
ultimately.  War  is,  no  doubt,  in  the  abstract,  and 
in  every  way,  in  fact,  a  terrible  calamity;  but  God 
overrules  these  great  evils  for  good,  and  it  requires 
some  terrible  upheaving  and  force  to  shake  this 
country  out  of  its  old  ways  and  cleanse  it  of  its 
corruption  and  want  of  common  justice." 

Massacre  and  Riots  in  Szchuen.  While  the  ulti 
mate  effect  of  the  war  was  to  be  thus  favorable  to 
the  spread  of  Christianity  its  immediate  effect  was 
to  inflame  the  masses  of  people  for  a  time  all  the 
more  against  all  foreigners  as  the  supposed  cause 
of  the  trouble.  Humiliated  and  sullen  the  officials 
in  Western  China  led  by  the  Viceroy  of  Szchuen 
vented  their  ill  will  in  another  terrible  massacre. 
In  Kucheng,  the  Church  of  England  missionaries 
were  torn  from  their  beds  and  foully  murdered. 
Other  missions  suffered  terribly  in  loss  of  property. 
Hospitals,  orphanages,  churches,  the  agencies 
which  held  within  them  the  power  of  a  new  life  for 
China,  were  swept  away.  While  this  movement  did 
not  spread  to  any  of  the  stations  of  our  own  Mis 
sion  it  was  a  time  of  anxiety,  for  in  China,  in  the  old 
days  of  the  Empire,  one  never  knew  just  how  much 
any  such  movement  was  local  and  how  much 
national. 

Friendly  Attitude  Toward  Missionaries.  After 
this  movement  to  drive  out  Christianity  and  West 
ern  civilization  had  failed  there  came  a  revulsion 
of  feeling  and  the  prominent  lesson  of  the  war 
began  to  make  itself  felt.  The  officials  began  to 


2O2         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

see  in  the  missionary  the  messenger  of  a  new  and 
better  civilization.  There  came  a  strong  desire  for 
the  learning  that  had  made  Western  nations  and 
Japan  so  strong  and  prosperous.  The  despised 
Mission  school  took  on  an  entirely  different  aspect 
to  the  erstwhile  Chinese  scoffer.  It  was  the  day 
of  opportunity  for  Mission  schools  and  the  mis 
sionaries  realized  it. 

St.  John's  College.  "The  demands  upon  us  are 
becoming  greater,"  wrote  Dr.  Pott  early  in  1897, 
"and  our  desire  is  to  put  ourselves  in  a  position  to 
meet  them.  Many  signs  of  a  general  overturn  in 
the  old  crystallized  state  of  affairs  in  China  are  evi 
dent,  and  in  whatever  way  it  may  be  brought  about, 
a  new  order  of  things  is  sure  to  come."  The  fees 
for  tuition  were  raised  and  the  number  of  appli 
cants  for  admission  were  so  great  that  many  had  to 
be  refused.  A  new  Science  Hall  was  deemed  a 
necessity  for  the  enlargement  of  the  college  and 
some  large  sums  were  contributed  for  it  by  wealthy 
Chinese  merchants  and  officials  who  had  at  last 
come  to  realize  the  value  of  St.  John's. 

Growth  in  Shanghai.  In  1897  Bishop  Graves  com 
ments  especially  on  the  great  commercial  develop 
ment  of  Shanghai  since  the  close  of  the  China-Japan 
War.  The  growth  of  the  place  was  phenomenal  and 
on  all  sides  were  springing  up  cotton  factories,  silk 
filatures  and  other  important  manufacturing  estab 
lishments.  While  the  growth  of  a  big  city  brought 
new  problems  to  the  mission  work  "the  situation  is 
now  without  a  great  promise  for  the  future,  for  it 


The  War  With  Japan  203 

means  that  as  Shanghai  grows  so  does  our  opportu 
nity  for  doing  good,  and  the  greater  is  the  position 
of  influence  that  will  be  occupied  by  any  mission 
located  here.  Moreover,  it  means  that  the  old  dead, 
anti-progressive  spirit  will  of  necessity  give  place 
to  another." 

Development  Upriver.  The  experience  at  Boone 
School  in  Wuchang  was  similar  to  that  at  St.  John's 
College.  There  was  the  same  increased  demand  for 
foreign  education.  It  had  not  been  easy  to  obtain 
paying  pupils  before  but  now  the  applicants  were  so 
numerous  that  Mr.  Partridge  had  difficulty  in  choos 
ing  out  those  who  applied.  He  himself  raised  the 
funds  and  purchased  a  piece  of  land  adjoining  the 
Mission,  for  enlargement.  The  son  of  the  Taotai  of 
Hankow  entered  the  school ;  the  first  son  of  an  offi 
cial  to  enter  Boone.  Viceroy  Chang  Tsz  Tung1  sent 
his  secretary  to  express  his  appreciation  of  the 
school,  and  to  offer  (unsolicited)  to  furnish  the 
new  building  needed,  or  build  an  addition  to 
Williams  Hall,  or  in  fact  extend  any  financial  help 
needed  provided  that  the  usual  attendance  at 
Divine  worship  be  made  not  compulsory.  "It  is 
a  rather  trying  temptation,"  wrote  Mr.  Partridge 
of  the  offer,  "to  one  when  the  building  is  appeal 
ing  so  strongly  for  funds,  but  of  course  I  have 
been  obliged  to  decline  his  Excellency's  offer. 

Position  of  Mission  Schools.      Throughout    the 

1  Chang  Tsz  Tung,  one  of  China's  greatest  and  best  rulers 
who  about  this  time  wrote  the  book  "Learn — China's  Only 
Hope,"  which  had  a  large  circulation  and  widespread  influence. 


2O4         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

land  the  Christian  schools  became  the  cynosure  of 
all  eyes.  When  the  newly  established  government 
college  at  Tientsin  started  to  secure  the  most  promis 
ing  students,  Li  Hung  Chang  told  the  American 
president  of  the  institution  to  secure  all  he  could 
from  Christian  schools  as  there  he  would  find  the 
best  material.  The  foreign  office  in  Pekin  made  a 
recommendation  to  the  government  to  establish  a 
university  in  each  of  the  eighteen  provinces  with 
smaller  schools  in  the  chief  cities,  where  the  Chinese 
could  study  English,  chemistry,  physics  and  meta 
physics,  and  an  edict  to  that  effect  was  issued. 

"Some  of  the  governors  received  these  orders 
with  alacrity,"  wrote  Dr.  Boone,  "some  conserva 
tives  did  not  like  the  new  regime.  The  powerful 
governor  of  the  great  province  of  Shantung  replied 
to  the  imperial  rulers  that  he  would  comply  with 
the  order,  but  as  no  one  wanted  the  college  nothing 
could  be  done.  The  reply  came :  'We  gave  the  order 
because  so  many  influential  people  in  your  province 
want  it.'  The  governor  replied :  'I  have  no  place 
suitable  for  this  college.'  The  answer  was :  'Take 
one  of  the  many  temples  in  your  city,  empty  it,  and 
get  it  ready  for  this  work/  Further  objections 
brought  the  imperial  retort :  'Obey  orders  or  we  will 
dismiss  you  from  office  and  install  someone  who 
will  carry  out  our  new  policy/  The  governor  had 
to  submit  to  the  inevitable  and  get  ready  for  the  new 
order  of  things.  He  even  had  to  go  to  the  mission 
aries  living  in  his  city  whom  he  had  opposed  for 
years  and  ask  them  to  lend  a  hand  in  getting  the 


The  War  With  Japan  205 

new  college  started  and  finding  suitable  instructors 
for  it."  All  these  were  evidences  that  the  young 
Emperor  himself  had  broken  away  from  the 
Empress  Dowager,  his  conservative  but  strong- 
minded  aunt,  and  had  been  won  over  to  the  side 
of  reform. 

Conference  of  Anglican  Bishops.  In  the  mean 
time  two  events  had  occurred  in  the  Mission — both 
of  which  were  important  works  of  preparation  for 
the  door  of  greater  opportunity  which  was  opening 
wide  before  the  Church.  One  was  the  first  Confer 
ence,  in  Shanghai  in  1897,  of  all  the  Anglican 
Bishops  working  in  China. 

It  had  been  felt  for  some  time  that  there  ought  to 
be  a  closer  bond  of  union  between  the  Church  of 
England  and  American  Episcopal  Missions  and  con 
sultation  together  for  the  good  of  the  Church.  At 
this  first  conference,  at  which  the  four  English  Bish 
ops  and  the  one  American  Bishop  were  present  with 
attending  presbyters,  various  subjects  were  dis 
cussed,  such  as  religious  terms  in  the  Chinese  lan 
guage,  the  name  of  the  Church  in  Chinese,  sub 
divisions  of  dioceses  and  a  common  classical  revi 
sion  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  All  felt  that 
the  Church  had  made  an  important  step  forward  and 
it  was  agreed  to  meet  again  in  1899.  These  confer 
ences  were  destined  under  the  blessing  of  God  to 
eventuate  in  the  formation  in  1912  of  the  one  Church 
for  all  of  China,  the  Sheng  Kung  Hui,  comprising 
English,  American,  Chinese  and  Canadian  members 
of  the  Anglican  Church  in  China. 


2o6         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Revision  of  the  Prayer  Book.  The  other  import 
ant  piece  of  work  was  the  revision  of  the  Prayer 
Book  in  1895  by  a  committee  appointed  by  Bishop 
Graves  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Thomson, 
Partridge,  Pott  and  Ingle.  The  Mission  already  had 
a  beautiful  translation  in  the  literary  language 
made  by  the  scholarly  Bishop  Schereschewsky.  But 
in  the  meantime  the  American  book  had  been  revised 
and  enriched  and  it  became  necessary  to  go  care 
fully  over  it  again  altering  it  so  as  to  correspond  with 
the  one  used  at  home  and  correcting  minor  defects 
that  frequent  use  had  made  noticeable.  This 
revision  kept  the  book  in  the  Wenli  language.  It 
was  afterward  put  into  the  Mandarin  and  the 
Shanghai  colloquial. 

Further  Development  of  the  Upriver  Evangel 
istic  Work.  In  spite  of  wars  and  rumors  of  war  the 
work  in  outstations  was  being  pushed  forward.  An 
advance  was  made  when  a  new  station  was  opened 
by  a  native  evangelist  in  the  large  town  of  Han- 
chuan,  some  sixty  miles  up  the  Han  River  from 
its  mouth  at  Hankow.  After  the  native  preacher 
had  been  at  work  there  for  several  months  Mr.  Ingle 
visited  the  new  station  in  1894  and  baptized  seventy- 
one  converts,  "good  and  genuine  people."  "If  more 
men  would  offer  themselves,"  wrote  Bishop  Graves, 
"we  might  go  on  extending  our  work  in  this  way.3* 
With  the  coming  of  the  Rev.  D.  T.  Huntington  to 
Hankow  in  1895  and  the  Rev.  L.  H.  Roots  in  1896, 
it  was  possible  gradually  to  extend  and  develop  the 
otitstation  work  with  a  chain  of  country  stations, 


The  War  With  Japan  207 

manned  by  native  evangelists,  between  several  of 
the  large  cities  in  which  a  native  or  foreign  clergy 
man  resided. 

Hanchuan  is  a  good  example  of  an  outstation  in  the 
China  Mission.  This  town  is  in  the  central  point 
of  a  large  country  district.  Around  it  have  gradu 
ally  been  opened  preaching  points  in  several  vil 
lages.  In  Hanchuan  a  native  clergyman  resides, 
while  in  the  more  important  neighboring  village 
catechists  are  stationed.  It  was  never  intended  to 
have  a  foreign  missionary  resident  there  with  the 
equipment  of  a  hospital  or  large  boarding  school 
needed  in  the  big  cities  and  provincial  capitals,  but 
it  was  planned  that  it  should  be  developed,  as  in 
time  the  Mission  hopes  to  develop  hundreds  of  simi 
lar  cities  into  a  strong  center  for  the  Chinese 
Church  in  the  district  around  it.1 

Anking.  Anking,  on  the  Yangtse  River,  midway 
between  the  cities  of  Wuhu  and  Kiukiang  is  one  of 
the  strategic  points  in  the  conquest  of  China  for 
Christ,  being  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Anhui. 
Here,  early  in  1894,  in  spite  of  the  paucity  of  work 
ers  at  the  time,  a  start  had  been  made  with  a  native 
deacon  in  charge.  It  was  difficult  to  rent  property 
for  the  use  of  a  Christian  mission,  but  an  old 
"haunted  house"  which  no  one  else  wanted  was 
finally  obtained.  There  was  no  foreigner  to  place 
there  until  1896,  when  Dr.  Mackay  of  Wuchang, 


*Of  the  1900  counties  into  which  China  is  divided  about 
1200  are  still  without  settled  mission  work. 


208         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

although  not  a  member  of  the  Mission,  relieved 
Dr.  Merrins  at  Wuchang  who  with  Mrs.  Merrins 
removed  to  Anking  to  make  an  opening  by  medical 
work  for  the  Gospel  in  that  great  heathen  strong 
hold. 

Other  Upriver  Outstations.  Another  new  out- 
station  opened  about  1895  was  the  city  of  Hsinti — 
about  one  hundred  miles  up  the  Yangtse  River 
from  Hankow.  Here  also  it  was  not  intended 
to  have  a  foreigner  resident.  It  was  first  man 
ned  by  native  catechists — one  of  whom  proved  a 
scoundrel  and  made  much  trouble  for  the  Mission 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  Mission  which  he  joined 
after  being  dismissed  by  the  Church  for  dishonesty. 
Afterwards  a  native  clergyman  was  sent  to  take 
charge  of  this  work  which  has  made  good  progress 
in  spite  of  its  stormy  drawbacks.  Here  in  May, 
1896,  Mr.  Ingle  visited  the  station,  the  first  for 
eigner  to  enter  the  city  or  to  travel  over  most  of 
the  road  from  Hanchuan  there.  This  journey,  from 
Hankow  to  Hanchuan — sixty  miles  by  native  boat 
— and  from  Hanchuan  a  point  sixty  miles  further 
up  the  Han  River  where  Mr.  Ingle  thought  of  open 
ing  a  station  and  from  thence  to  Hsinti  across  coun 
try  and  from  the  latter  place  back  to  Hankow  was 
the  longest  journey  yet  recorded  of  any  member  of 
our  Mission  into  the  interior  of  the  province  of 
Hupeh.  It  was  a  journey  of  exploration,  and  the 
traveller  came  back  with  a  new  sense  of  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  work  yet  to  be  done  and  the  need  of 
branching  out  by  means  of  native  helpers  from  the 


The  War  With  Japan  209 

big  cities  in  which  the  Mission  first  had  wisely 
determined  to  settle  and  make  strong  centers  for 
radiating  activity. 

Work  at  Shasi.  The  work  at  Shasi  was  put  on  a 
permanent  basis  in  1896  by  the  purchase  of  land  and 
the  erection  of  a  chapel  and  house  for  the  native 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kwei,  who  was  in  charge  of 
this  station  until  his  death  in  1911.  This  addition 
was  made  possible  by  the  generous  gift  of  the 
missionary  in  charge,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Huntington.  The 
work  here  as  at  Hanchuan  and  Hsinti  was  done  by 
natives  under  the  supervision  of  the  foreign  worker, 
and  that  the  plan  worked  well  has  been  a  great  tes 
timony  to  the  efficiency  of  the  native  staff. 

These  stations  were  then  all  supervised  from 
Hankow  as  a  center.  In  the  latter  city  itself  the 
evangelistic  work  was  spreading  and  new  congre 
gations  being  organized.  St.  Peter's  congregation 
was  housed  in  a  native  house.1  Mr.  Huntington  tell 
ing  of  a  baptism  service  at  the  old  St.  Peter's  thus 
describes  the  Chapel :  "We  first  went  up  a  very  crazy 
tenement-house  sort  of  stairs  to  the  Deacon's  study. 
At  three  o'clock  we  went  down.  I  never  saw  such  a 
ehapel.  Sheldon  Street  Mission  room  is  a  Westmin 
ster  Abbey  compared  to  it,  though  this  is  larger. 
Whitewashed  (but  not  very  recently)  floor  partly 
Stones  and  partly  boards  with  holes  in  them  and 
thoroughly  rotten,  and  the  seats  board  benches  with 

1  Bishop  Graves  wrote  home  at  one  time  that  any  hayloft 
at  home  was  preferable  to  sleep  in  to  any  Chinese  house  he 
knew. 


2io         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

no  backs  to  them.  Just  in  front  of  the  chancel, 
over  what,  by  courtesy,  we  will  call  the  choir,  was 
a  sort  of  well  through  which  came  nearly  all  the 
light  for  the  building.  I  could  see  the  edges  of  sev 
eral  roofs,  but  there  was  nothing  to  keep  the  rain 
out,  and  the  altar  looked  as  if  it  had  'suffered  ship 
wreck'  and  been  'in  the  deep,  a  night  and  a  day/ 

"When  you  add  that,  besides  being  open  to  the 
weather,  there  is  no  means  at  all  for  warming  the 
place,  and  that  the  thermometer  registered  four 
below  zero  in  Hankow  on  December  15th, — you 
will  readily  conclude  that  it  is  not  the  luxuries  of 
Christianity  which  have  made  the  converts.1 

"This  is  one  of  the  most  successful  stations  and 
they  need  very  much  a  decent  chapel  and  good 
guest-room  (reception  room)  for  enquirers  to  come 
and  talk  with  the  missionaries." 

This  appeal  was  not  without  its  effect.  In  1897 
through  the  generous  gift  of  Mrs.  Bedell,  widow  of 
the  late  Bishop  of  Ohio,  the  present  neat  and  sub 
stantial  St.  Peter's  Chapel  was  erected  in  Hankow. 

Neglect  by  the  Home  Church.  The  missionaries 
sorely  needed  such  evidences  of  the  interest  of  the 
home  Church  in  the  work  it  had  sent  them  to  do. 
In  fact  it  almost  seemed  at  times  as  if  they  were 
not  only  to  do  this  work  in  China  for  the  Church 
but  to  furnish  the  means  of  doing  it.  Mr.  Ingle 
wrote  at  the  end  of  1896  from  Hankow: 


1The  above  description  will  give  a  general  picture  of  many 
of  the  newer  stations  in  China  to-day. 


The  War  With  Japan  211 

"You  ask  for  my  general  impressions  of  the  work 
of  the  Church.  I  hesitate  to  touch  the  subject,  for 
I  feel  very  keenly  the  neglect  of  our  work  by  the 
Church  at  home,  and  I  cannot  speak  of  results  and 
methods  here  without  touching  on  causes  at  home. 
Our  work  in  China  is  small,  though  perhaps  as 
large  as  could  be  expected  under  the  circumstances. 
Almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  mission  we  have 
been  undermanned  and  neglected.  Under  such  cir 
cumstances  no  policy  can  be  carried  out  and  little 
lasting  result  accomplished.  Our  workers  are  above 
the  average  in  ability  but  pitifully  few.  We  feel 
that  we  are  barely  tolerated  by  a  rich  and  growing 
Church,  which  could  easily  quadruple  our  force  if  it 
chose,  but  prefers  the  very  unbusiness-like  plan  of 
employing  one  man  to  do  the  work  of  three  or  four, 
and  then  actually  expects  to  see  growth,  whereas 
there  are  not  enough  workers  properly  to  supervise 
already  existing  work,  much  less  extend  it.  Do  you 
wonder  we  here  on  the  outposts  think  our  lot  hard 
and  blush  for  our  Church's  indifference?  It  would 
be  better  if  she  were  to  renounce  the  profession  of 
work  among  the  heathen,  and  leave  us  to  seek  help 
and  sympathy  from,  perhaps,  the  English  Church, 
than  to  trifle  thus  with  so  solemn  a  commission  as 
our  Lord's  parting  mandate  to  her." 

Strong  and  burning  words,  but  were  they  not 
justified  when  we  contemplate  the  paucity  of  the 
regular  offerings  from  the  whole  Church  for  the 
extension  of  Christ's  Kingdom  abroad  that  year?  A 
little  over  $200,000,  perhaps  a  trifle  more  than  half 


212         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

a  cent  a  week  for  each  communicant,  given  by  the 
richest  body  of  individuals  in  the  United  States  for 
the  work  of  winning  one  half  the  world  for  Christ ! 
One  worker  only  added  in  1897  and  he  not  an  Ameri 
can  but  an  Englishman !  Can  we  wonder  that  the 
workers  in  the  field  felt  as  did  Mr.  Ingle?  The 
Church  at  home  was  as  fast  asleep  as  China  had 
been. 

We  have  made  a  big  step  forward  since  the 
devoted  young  priest  wrote  his  above  complaint, 
•but  we  are  still  only  on  the  threshold  of  doing  big 
things  in  China.  A  work  commensurate  with  our 
Apostolic  Claims  and  present  power  and  member 
ship  at  home  still  waits  to  be  done.  And  it  must 
be  done  quickly  for  the  day  of  opportunity  in  the 
new  China  is  passing  quickly.  We  can  be  proud  of 
our  workers  in  China  and  the  quality  of  their  work, 
but  we  cannot  yet  be  proud  of  the  response  of  the 
home  Church  to  Christ's  appeal  for  China. 


A  SURVEY  OF  THE  WORK  AT  THE  END  OF 
THE  CENTURY. 

1898-1900 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  SURVEY  OF  THE  WORK  AT  THE  END  OF 
THE  CENTURY. 

1898-1900 

In  Due  Season  Ye  Shall  Reap.  The  year  1898 
was  a  memorable  one  in  the  history  of  the  Mis 
sion.  It  may  be  said  to  mark  a  turning  point  in  the 
Church's  Work  in  China.  The  faithful,  patient  work 
of  years  was  beginning  to  tell.  The  educational 
work  and  opportunities  it  afforded  had  never  been 
so  promising.  There  were  exciting  times  in  Pekin 
that  year  and  the  Emperor,  aflame  with  zeal  for 
reform,  was  quietly  deposed  by  the  now  thoroughly 
alarmed  Empress  Dowager.  A  strong  reactionary 
movement  set  in,  which  culminated  two  years  later 
in  the  horrors  of  the  Boxer  Movement  and  the 
attempt  to  drive  the  foreigner  and  everything  that 
he  had  brought  forever  out  of  China,  but  even  these 
two  years  of  reaction  could  not  suppress  the  eager 
desire  that  had  been  stirred  throughout  the  country 
for  the  advantages  of  Western  civilization.  Conse 
quently  the  schools  were  full.  The  directly  evan 
gelistic  work,  especially  in  the  upriver  district, 
was  equally  promising  and  encouraging.  Late 
in  1897  Bishop  Graves,  in  company  with  Messrs. 
Ingle  and  Roots,  made  an  outstation  visitation  from 


216         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Hankow.  In  writing  of  this  trip  the  Bishop 
reported  that  the  advance  in  the  work  was  so  great 
thai  he  himself  was  surprised  at  the  progress  he 
found  in  certain  localities,  the  reports  of  which  had 
previously  seemed  to  him  to  he  exaggerated.  He 
also  said:  "In  describing  the  hare  outline  of  the 
events  of  this  visitation,  the  impression  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  work  in  the  upriver  districts  must 
even  in  a  hi 'icf  statement  he  plain.  1  rejoice  that  I 
can  say  that  not  only  is  our  work  stronger  in  num 
bers,  but  there  is  a  more  solid  growth  in  stability 
which  1  see  on  each  visit  *  *  * 

"Young  men  and  girls  are  applying  to  us  to  be 
taught,  enquirers  and  catechumens  are  corning  to 
us  not  by  ones  and  twos,  bill  by  hundreds,  to  be 
instructed  in  the  Christian  f;iitli  and  prepared  for 
Baptism,  New  workers,  both  men  and  women,  are 
urgently  needed  and  the  (  Imrch  should  allow 
nothing  to  hinder  her  sending  them  out  at  once.  1 
can  only  solemnly  warn  the  Church  that  now  is 
her  opportunity  in  China." 

Would  the  Church  hear?  The  appeal  had  gone 
home  again  and  again  before  and  leaders  had  died 
with  it  unanswered.  Many  valuable  years  in  which 
far  reaching  work  might  have  been  done  had  been 
lost.  Enough  workers  had  been  sent  out  to  keep 
the  scanty  and  scattered  work  going  only  without 
providing  for  increase.  Was  it  to  be  so  still? 

Many  New  Recruits.  Thank  Cod  no.  Klcven 
new  workers  were  sent  to  China  in  1X98,  the  largest 
number  in  one  year  in  the  history  of  the  Mission. 


A  Survey  of  the  Work  217 

What  joy  it  brought  to  the  little  band  of  workers 
in  that  far  away  laud,  so  long  hoping  aud  praying 
for  helpers  to  come  and  light  by  their  sides,  and 
not  only  take  their  places  when  they  fell  and  hold 
what  had  been  gained,  but  push  further  into  the 
camp  of  the  enemy!  Best  of  all  the  increase  was  not 
a  temporary  one.  The  next  year  nine  new  workers 
were  sent  out  and  from  that  time  on  until  the  pres 
ent  a  small  but  continuous  supply  of  reinforcements 
has  been  sent  by  the  home  Church.  A  new  spirit 
seemed  to  have  fallen  upon  the  Church,  due  largely 
to  the  earnest,  solemn  appeals  of  the  Bishop  of 
Shanghai  by  letter  and  in  person  while  in  America, 
and  the  confidence  of  the  Church  in  him,  and  to  a 
new  policy  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Missions  a 
policy  of  greater  faith  in  Cod  and  trust  in  the  Church 
to  supply  the  means  necessary  to  send  out  into  a 
field  of  great  need  any  thoroughly  qualified  man  or 
woman  whom  God  had  really  called.  The  General 
Theological  Seminary,  which  had  not  sent  a  man 
to  China  since  Mr.  Pott  in  1886,  now  after  twelve 
years  sent  five  men  in  two  years,  two  of  them, 
Messrs.  Lund  and  Lindstrom,  being  candidates 
whom  Bishop  Graves  had  accepted  in  China  and 
sent  to  America  for  further  training  in  preparation 
for  reception  into  our  ministry.  The  Virginia  Semi 
nary  had  long  held  the  honor  of  being  the  chief 
source  oi  missionary  supply,  but  the  spirit  was 
spreading  and  Berkeley  and  Philadelphia  Divinity 
School  were  coming  to  the  fore  and  Cambridge  had 
just  sent  out  one  ot  her  most  earnest  sons. 


218         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

A  Survey  of  the  Field.  Let  us  attach  ourselves 
to  a  group  of  these  new  workers  and  with  them  pass 
to  China,  in  the  year  1899,  and  survey  the  field  and 
the  points  of  light  started  by  this  Mission  and  shin 
ing  in  the  midst  of  widespreading  and  dense  dark 
ness. 

We  disembark  in  Shanghai — not  far  from  the 
wharf  is  our  oldest  station  in  China,  the  Church  of 
our  Saviour,  Hongkew.  The  Rev.  Yen  Yung  Kiung 
for  so  many  years  its  pastor — one  of  the  most  noted 
and  valuable  of  our  missionaries  in  China — has  but 
recently  died.  He  was  among  the  first  graduates  of 
St.  John's  College,  and  "he  might  have  been,"  as 
Bishop  Graves  said  of  him,  "with  his  abilities  and 
opportunities,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  promi 
nent  men  in  China,  but  he  turned  his  back  upon  all 
worldly  honor  and  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of 
the  Church." 

Leaving  Hongkew  we  pass  over  to  the  native  city 
of  Shanghai  with  streets  narrow,  dirty,  crowded  and 
ill  smelling — a  striking  contrast  to  the  imposing, 
modern,  foreign  Shanghai.  Here  is  Grace  Church, 
for  many  of  our  fellow  Christians  live  inside  the 
West  Gate.  Then  passing  over  into  a  busy  suburb, 
fast  becoming  a  part  of  the  city,  we  come  to  another 
station  in  Sinza.  Here  again  the  generosity  of  Mrs. 
Bedell  is  bringing  blessing  to  heathendom  and  St. 
Peter's,  like  her  previous  gift  providing  St.  Peter's 
Church  at  Hankow,  is  rising  to  strengthen  the  work 
in  Shanghai.  Then  catching  further  glimpses  of  the 
city  and  its  immediate  environs  we  drive  behind  one 


AN  ELDERLY   CHRISTIAN   IN  THE   DISTRICT  OF   SHANGHAI 

A    GREAT    GATHERING    OF    MALE    COMMUNICANTS    FROM    THE 

SHANGHAI   DISTRICT,   PLANNING  FOR  CHURCH   EXTENSION 


A  Survey  ot  the  Work  219 

of  the  strong,  jerky  Chinese  ponies,  known  in  a  few 
of  the  larger  ports  of  China,  four  more  miles  to 
Jessfield.  Here  is  St.  John's  College,  so  long  a  dis 
tant  friend  only,  now  at  last  actually  before  us,  doing 
its  splendid  work  for  the  young  men  of  China.  Here 
is  the  fine  new  Science  Hall  completed  in  September, 
1899,  and  ready  for  a  long  career  of  useful  service. 
Here  too  is  the  Training  School  for  Bible  Women 
which  in  1898  had  graduated  its  first  class,  and  St. 
Mary's  School  and  Orphanage,  year  after  year  trans 
forming  unwanted  depised  girls  into  noble  Chris 
tian  womanhood.  In  the  beautiful  St.  John's  Church 
there  is  scarcely  room  for  us  as  we  enter  for  Even 
song,  so  full  is  it  of  the  students  from  all  the  insti 
tutions  on  the  compound. 

Every  one  is  charmed  by  the  first  view  of  the 
work  that  Shanghai  affords  and  by  the  cordial  wel 
come  of  the  missionaries.  The  rapidly  growing, 
active  city,  the  fine  buildings  of  foreign  firms  and 
banks,  the  gay  shops  with  their  many  goods  exposed 
to  full  view  of  the  tourist  rolling  by  in  his  jinrick 
shaw,  the  varied  costumes  of  many  nationalities,  the 
hum  of  the  very  cosmopolitan  life  of  the  foreign  set 
tlement  where  all  the  nations  of  the  West  and  the 
East  seem  to  meet,  is  all  very  exciting  and  strange. 
But  it  is  not  China  proper,  where  the  greater  part 
of  the  Mission  work  is  done,  so  leaving  Shanghai  we 
pass  through  the  three  provinces  of  Kiangsu,  Anhui 
and  Hupeh,  in  which  the  Church  is  at  work.  In  the 
former  we  find  twenty-five  stations  and  outstations 
including  preaching  points.  The  evangelistic  work, 


22O         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

though  the  stations  are  greater  in  number,  has  not 
yet  had  the  same  success  as  in  Hupeh  in  Central 
China  in  which  Wuchang  and  Hankow  are  situated. 
The  Bishop  tells  us  that  "This  is  partly  due  to  the 
character  of  the  people  who  are  slow  and  lacking  in 
energy,  and  partly  no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  this 
branch  of  our  work  has  not  been  so  completely 
organized  here  as  it  has  in  Hupeh."  But  the  same 
system  which  has  had  such  good  results  in  the  Han 
kow  outstations  has  been  introduced  now  in  the 
Shanghai  district  and  better  results  have  steadily 
followed. 

We  do  not  stop  to  visit  the  outstations  but  pass  on  by 
the  main  artery  of  travel,  the  Yangtse  River,  up  to  our 
most  inland  points.  Adjoining  the  province  of  Kiangsu 
is  the  province  of  Anhui  and  in  two  of  its  river  cities, 
Wuhu  and  Anking,  we  have  centers  of  work.  The 
former  has  made  very  little  progress  since  it  was 
opened  many  years  ago  and  the  lonely  hilltop  Bishop 
Boone  had  purchased,  in  the  hope  that  soon  the  station 
might  have  a  resident  foreign  missionary  to  develop 
the  work,  still  stands  out  lonely  and  unoccupied. 
But  the  Bishop  has  placed  Mr.  Lund  here  and 
although  a  new  member  of  our  Mission  he  has  had 
much  experience  in  another  Mission  and  knows  the 
language,  so  is  able  to  push  ahead  rapidly.  He  has 
opened  a  boarding  school  for  boys  and  there  are  three 
outstations.  The  headquarters  of  the  Mission  is  still 
a  rented  house  in  the  native  city  where  Mr.  Lund 
lives,  but  a  road  has  been  constructed  to  the  hill 


A  Survey  of  the  Work  221 

outside  the  city  and  plans  are  under  way  for  build 
ing  there. 

Passing  on  up  the  river,  in  about  twelve  hours  we 
come  to  Anking  where  Mr.  Lindstrom  has  recently 
assumed  charge.  Who  could  have  foreseen  then  the 
wonderful  growth  that  was  to  take  place  there 
within  twelve  years,  when  its  fine  schools,  cathedral, 
church,  and  hospital  were  to  arise,  and  the  large 
group  of  foreign  and  native  workers  and  chain  of 
outstations  would  evidence  its  activities.  A  school 
of  ragged  looking  boys,  a  handful  of  members,  many 
of  whom  turned  out  to  be  unworthy  of  the  name. 
Such  is  the  beginning  of  the  work  in  Anking  as  we 
visit  it  in  1899. 

We  have  no  work  yet  in  the  next  province  of 
Kiangsi  so  we  pass  by  Kiukiang,  its  principal  river- 
port,  and  up  the  next  day  to  Hupeh,  landing  at  Han 
kow  and  Wuchang.  In  Hankow,  in  addition  to  the 
work  at  St.  Paul's  and  the  new  St.  Peter's,  another 
large  lot  in  a  distant  part  of  the  city  has  been  pur 
chased  through  the  energy  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton,  and  the  rapidly  growing  congregation  of  St. 
John's  (sixty  have  recently  been  baptized  on  one 
Sunday)  is  about  to  exchange  its  squalid  home  in 
the  loft  of  a  Chinese  house  for  a  more  dignified 
place  of  worship. 

Then  we  go  by  small  native  rowboat,  called  the 
sampan,  over  the  Yangtse  to  the  provincial  capital, 
Wuchang.  After  a  not  very  dignified  landing  and 
a  scramble  up  a  muddy  river  bank  we  make  our  way 


222         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

through  the  city  wall  by  the  Grassy  Lake  Gate, 
winding  in  and  out  of  the  narrow  streets,  for  the 
comparatively  wide,  straight  "College"  street  was 
then  unknown,  and  we  see  at  last  the  little  round 
clock  tower  of  Boone  School  and  pass  in  to  what  is 
both  physically  and  spiritually  like  an  oasis  in  a 
desert.  All  around  is  the  noisy,  smelly  city — within 
is  quiet;  green  grass,  fine  old  shade  trees,  and  the 
sound  of  a  church  bell.  It  is  a  blessed  relief  and  a 
promise  of  the  China  that  is  to  be.  "Within  is  quiet," 
but  not  when  the  new  worker  first  arrived.  The 
boys  of  Boone  are  drawn  up  in  line  on  both  sides  the 
hilly  entrance  and  long  strings  of  fire  crackers 
sound  forth  their  rapid  noisy  greeting.  Then  you 
pass  on  to  the  center  of  it  all,  the  beautiful  Church 
of  the  Holy  Nativity,  and  the  boys  from  Boone  and 
the  girls  from  St.  Hilda's  gather  with  you  for  even 
ing  prayers.  St.  Hilda's  is  new  to  you — but  after 
all  it  is  an  old  friend  under  a  new  name,  for  it  is  the 
old  Jane  Bohlen  School  for  girls  after  a  long  check 
ered  career  of  openings  and  closings  now  in  a  new 
substantial  brick  home  under  Miss  Pauline  Osgood, 
one  of  the  new  recruits.  For  two  years  it  had  been 
closed  again  when  after  nearly  three  years  of  ser 
vice  Miss  Ward  died  leaving  the  school  orphaned. 
It  too  has  started  on  a  new  life  and  now,  not  to  be 
closed  again  for  lack  of  workers,  it  begins  its  rapidly 
growing  work.  Boone  has  also  had  an  addition, 
Williams  Hall,  built  by  money  Mr.  Partridge  him 
self  had  raised.  It  has  furnished  increased  accom 
modation  but  this  has  been  speedily  taken  up  and 


A  Survey  of  the  Work  223 

hundreds  of  applicants  for  admission  must  now 
be  turned  from  its  doors. 

St.  Paul's  Divinity  School  is  another  new  build 
ing  made  possible  by  the  legacy  of  Miss  Lily  F. 
Ward  who  died  in  1898  after  a  short  period  of  lov 
ing  earnest  service  for  Christ  in  China.  In  this  are 
the  three  divinity  students  and  the  Associate  Mis 
sion  comprised  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Wood,  Littell 
and  Sherman  who  have  come  out  from  America  for 
evangelistic  work  in  and  around  Wuchang. 

Not  far  away  are  the  buildings  of  the  hospitals  for 
men  and  women  both  getting  ready  for  a  new  period 
of  usefulness  made  possible  by  the  coming  of  Dr. 
Borland  and  Dr.  Mary  V.  Glenton. 

Again  another  steamer  and  we  pass  on  to  Ichang, 
four  hundred  miles  up  the  Yangtse  from  Hankow. 
But  before  we  reach  this  our  remotest  station  if  we 
stop  en  route  at  the  river  cities  of  Shinti  and  Shasi 
we  find  much  to  encourage  us,  especially  in  the  re 
ports  from  inland  outstations  reached  from  these 
cities,  where  the  Gospel  is  now  being  preached  and 
converts  made.  The  progress  is  truly  remarkable. 
What  was  especially  noticeable  in  the  work  at  these 
outstations,  begun  by  an  application  from  the  peo 
ple  in  the  village  of  Chiao  Wei  that  someone  be  sent 
to  teach  them,  was  the  fact  that  it  was  almost  en 
tirely  self-supporting  from  the  start,  the  house  or 
chapel  in  Chiao  Wei  being  paid  for  by  the  people 
themselves  who  also  furnish  the  travelling  expenses 
of  the  catechist  sent  to  instruct  them.  The  catechu 
mens  are  already  numbered  by  the  hundreds  and  it 


224         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

is  with  great  difficulty  that  provision  is  made  for 
teaching  them.  We  also  learn  that  all  around  the 
station  at  Hanchuan  the  conditions  are  encouraging 
and  the  harvest  everywhere  is  great  while  the  labor 
ers  are  few.  There  are  now  fourteen  stations  and  out- 
stations  in  the  upriver  district  and  the  training 
school  for  catechists  in  Hankow  is  sending  forth 
catechists  as  fast  as  the  one  or  two  instructors  avail 
able  can  train  them. 

Reaching  Ichang  we  find  the  Rev.  Dr.  Collins  and 
the  Rev.  Tsz  Tsen  Fang  and  a  steadily  growing 
work. 

So  we  finish  our  survey  of  the  work  as  it  was  in  the 
year  1899.  With  increased  equipment  and  staff  it  was 
standing  on  the  threshold  of  its  greatest  development. 
The  Church  in  America  was  at  last  beginning  to  take 
firm  hold  of  its  work  in  China  and  the  future  was  full 
of  promise  and  hope,  when  there  occurred  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1900  that  awful  cataclysm  known  as  the 
Boxer  Movement.  During  those  terrible  months  it 
swept  over  North  China  destroying  practically  all 
Mission  property — nearly  two  hundred  missionaries 
and  thousands  of  native  Christians — and  threaten 
ing  for  several  weeks  to  do  the  same  in  the  Yangtse 
valley  and  central  China. 

Departure  of  Mr.  Partridge.  Before  we  go  on, 
however,  to  speak  of  that  far-reaching  event  we 
must  note  the  removal  of  Mr.  Partridge  from  Wu 
chang.  He  was  elected  the  first  Bishop  of  the  dis 
trict  of  Kyoto  by  the  General  Convention  in  1899— 
and  left  Wuchang  en  the  day  after  Christmas  in  the 


A  Survey  of  the  Work  225 

same  year.  His  work  in  China  had  greatly  endeared 
him  to  Chinese  and  foreign  workers  and  native 
Christians  and  he  left  accompanied  by  a  flood  of  re 
grets,  heartfelt  appreciation  and  good  wishes.  His 
name  is  especially  associated  with  the  training  of 
native  clergy  and  the  development  of  Boone  School. 
When  he  took  charge  of  this  latter  in  1887  he  found 
twenty-eight  boys  and  three  small  one-story  houses. 
When  he  left  the  school  was  equipped  with  two 
substantial  two-story  buildings  with  provision  for 
one  hundred  boys.  Under  his  administration  the 
School  became  so  widely  known  and  so  popular  that 
it  had  already  a  waiting  list.  But  best  of  all  were 
the  inner  results  in  changed  lives  and  new  ideals 
for  country  and  for  self  that  had  been  effected. 
Some  of  the  most  promising  boys  had  been  baptized, 
others  who  were  afraid  to  become  Christians  openly 
were  so  in  sympathy,  while  in  many  other  cases 
the  seed  patiently  sown  was  to  bring  forth  its  fruits 
long  after.  One  of  the  immediate  effects  of  Mr. 
Partridge's  leaving  was  the  desire  of  the  boys  in 
Boone  to  know  something  of  the  Church's  work  in 
Japan,  which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the 
Students'  Missionary  Society. 


THE  BOXER  MOVEMENT  AND  AFTER 
1900-1901 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  BOXER  MOVEMENT  AND  AFTER 
1900-1901 

A  Time  of  Intense  Anxiety.  Looking  back  upon 
the  Boxer  movement  now  we  can  see  how  God 
brought  peace  and  progress  out  of  all  its  awful  tur 
moil  and  disaster,  but  at  the  time,  while  the  issue 
was  still  uncertain,  the  Church  was  filled  with  ap 
prehension  and  the  gravest  anxiety  for  the  safety 
of  our  workers,  our  native  Christians  and  our  insti 
tutions.1 

1  "The  organization  known  as  the  Boxers  is  a  secret  society 
organized  two  years  ago  under  the  name  of  I  Ho  Ch'uan 
(righteous  harmony  and  fists). 

Apparently  athletic  exercise  is  one  of  the  ostensible  features 
for  which  the  society  exists  The  leaders,  however,  by  working 
upon  the  credulity  and  prejudices  of  its  members,  have  created 
a  strong  anti-foreign  sentiment.  The  society  has  increased 
greatly  in  numbers  and  importance,  spreading  rapidly  from 
village  to  village.  Its  first  acts  of  violence  were  directed 
against  the  Roman  missionaries.  Gradually  its  feeling  has 
become  anti-Christian  and  is  now  anti-foreign.  Its  attitude 
may  be  better  understood  from  the  sentiments  expressed  in 
one  of  its  placards,  which  has  been  widely  circulated.  It 
reads :  The  Universal  Boxers'  Society.  You  are  personally 
invited  to  meet  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  ninth  moon.  Elevate 
the  Manchus.  Kill  the  foreigners.  Unless  this  summons  is 
obeyed  you  will  lose  your  heads.'  The  leaders  have  promised 
their  followers  that  their  bodies  shall  be  spiritually  protected 
from  bullets  and  sword-cuts."  Editorial,  Spirit  of  Missions, 
June,  1900. 

229 


230         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

The  Boxers  were  at  first  tolerated  by  the  Manchu 
government,  then  used  by  them  to  exterminate  for 
eigners  and  Christianity. 

The  Christian  Martyrs.  The  summer  of  1900  is 
one  which  those  who  lived  in  it  can  never  forget. 
In  the  north  the  martyrs  were  beheaded,  buried 
alive,  dismembered  limb  by  limb.  They  went  to 
their  deaths  unflinchingly,  giving  their  lives  for  the 
Faith,  sustained  by  the  Saviour  whom  they  had 
come  to  know  and  love.  Again  and  again  the  hor 
rors  of  northern  China  seemed  soon  to  be  re-enacted 
at  our  stations.  That  they  did  not  was  due,  under 
God,  to  the  Viceroys  of  the  Yangtse  Valley  whom 
the  Christian  Church  will  never  cease  to  honor. 
Viceroy  Lieo  at  Nanking  and  Viceroy  Chang  at  Wu 
chang  controlled  the  situation  from  Shanghai  to 
Ichang.  Clearheaded,  assured  of  the  folly  of  the 
enterprise  in  which  China  had  set  herself  to  defy 
the  whole  Western  world,  and  clearly  seeing  the 
inevitable  issue  of  such  madness,  they  disregarded 
the  orders  from  Pekin  to  kill  the  foreigners  and  pro 
tected  them  instead. 

Protection  in  Hupeh.  In  Wuchang  where  danger 
was  most  imminent  Chang  Tsz  Tung  ruled  with  an 
iron  rod.  At  great  personal  risk  he  issued  proclama 
tion  after  proclamation  promising  protection  to  for 
eigners  and  their  property  and  threatening  the  peo 
ple  into  quietness.  But  it  was  an  open  question  how 
long  the  Viceroy  would  be  able  to  keep  the  soldiers 
in  check — especially  as  the  governor  of  Hupeh  was 
strongly  anti-foreign  and  had  a  great  rabble  of  un- 


The  Boxer  Movement  and  After  231 

trained  soldiers.  At  one  place  some  soldiers  tore 
down  the  Viceroy's  proclamation  and  cursed  him 
openly.  It  was  only  by  the  most  summary  pun 
ishment  and  severest  measures  that  the  Viceroy 
was  able  to  avert  from  his  two  provinces  that  sum 
mer  the  threatened  disaster. 

The  Passing  of  the  Storm.  With  the  flight  of  the 
Court  from  Pekin  and  the  occupation  of  the  city  by 
foreign  troops  the  trouble  in  the  provinces  began  to 
subside.  Gradually  the  workers  in  our  Missions 
were  allowed  to  return  to  their  stations  to  find  all 
intact  and  no  lives  lost  and  the  lady  missionaries 
were  recalled  from  Japan  whither  many  of  them  had 
been  sent  for  safety.  It  was  not,  however,  until 
February  of  the  following  year  that  the  ladies  were 
permitted  to  return  to  inland  stations. 

After  the  Boxer  Movement.  As  the  missionaries 
had  foreseen,  the  time  that  followed  the  Boxer  perse 
cution  was  one  of  unparalleled  opportunity  for  ad 
vance.  The  conservative,  anti-foreign,  anti-progres 
sive  movement  had  failed.  The  Empress  Dowager 
and  her  old  advisers  saw  that  it  was  impossible  for 
China  to  withdraw  herself  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  that  if  China  was  to  hold  her  own  and 
not  be  the  prey  of  foreign  nations  she  must  learn  all 
she  could  from  the  once  despised  West.  The  Court 
came  back  in  1901,  from  its  flight  to  the  West,  sad 
der  but  wiser.  The  reform  movement  which  had 
sprung  into  vigorous  life  after  the  war  with  Japan 
again  was  in  the  ascendancy.  The  Empress  Dowa 
ger  began  issuing  the  same  edicts  for  which  three 


232         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

years  previously  she  had  dethroned  the  young  Em 
peror.  The  tide  had  changed  and  Western  ways 
and  methods  were  eagerly  sought  after.  This  was 
especially  true  of  Western  education.  The  old  clas 
sical  examinations  were  abolished  and  the  fitness  of 
the  candidate  for  civil  office  was  no  longer  to  be 
judged  by  his  stilted  Confucian  essay,  but  by  his 
knowledge  of  Western  sciences  and  arts.  For  the 
time  being  China  had  no  schools  where  such  things 
were  taught.  The  result  was  that  good  Mission 
schools  and  colleges  were  advanced  to  the  front 
ranks  of  prestige  and  popularity. 

Effect  on  Missionary  Educational  Work.  St. 
John's  College  and  Boone  School  felt  the  movement 
very  markedly.  St.  John's  had  more  students  than 
at  any  time  in  its  history  and  turned  many  away. 
It  was  most  significant  that  many  of  the  applicants 
were  the  sons  of  officials.  It  became  very  evident 
that  increased  accommodation  and  teaching  staff 
were  necessary.  The  same  thing  was  true  of  Boone. 
Its  growth  was  phenomenal  and  it  was  bidding  fair 
to  become  for  Central  China  what  St.  John's  was  for 
Eastern  China.  Its  needs  for  more  room  and  for  a 
scientific  department  demanded  immediate  attention 
if  it  was  to  advance  with  the  advancing  opportunity. 
New  buildings  were  asked  for  both  institutions  and 
in  time  obtained. 

Opening  of  New  Stations.  The  years  after  the 
Boxer  movement  marked  a  growth  in  all  mission 
work. 


The  Boxer  Movement  and  After  233 

Kiukiang.  Kiukiang  is  a  treaty  port  in  the  prov 
ince  of  Kiangsi,  some  ninety  miles  below  Hankow. 
The  foreigners,  mostly  English,  resident  there  were 
desirous  of  having  Church  services  and  at  their  re 
quest  Mr.  Ridgely  was  sent  once  a  month  to  con 
duct  them.  This  made  possible  the  sending  of  a 
native  deacon,  and  the  opening  also  of  Chinese  work 
which  had  been  in  contemplation  for  some  years. 
This  was  the  first  work  we  had  attempted  in  the 
province  of  Kiangsi.  At  first  the  work  was  carried 
on  in  a  rented  house,  beginning  with  public  preach 
ing,  and  a  good  number  of  enquirers  were  soon 
brought  to  it.  The  work  has  grown  encouragingly 
from  the  start.  A  boys'  school  and  a  girls'  school 
soon  opened.  The  Board  of  Managers  at  home  were 
unable  to  make  any  appropriation  for  this  advance 
and  the  offerings  at  the  English  services  in  Kiu 
kiang  were  used  at  first  to  support  the  native  work. 

A  chance  to  secure  permanent  property  came  in 
1903,  when  a  splendid  Chinese  house  with  large 
grounds  around  providing  room  for  expansion  was 
offered  for  sale  to  the  Mission  at  a  low  price.  The 
opportunity  was  too  good  to  lose  and  Mr.  Littell 
then  in  charge  purchased  the  property  for  $1,300 
(gold)  and  then  gave  his  friends  at  home  the  op 
portunity  to  help  in  this  investment,  which  they  did. 
Thus  was  established  permanently  the  work  in  the 
province  of  Kiangsi  with  its  twenty-five  million 
people  without  Christ. 

Hankow.  In  Hankow  a  new  Church,  St.  John's, 
interrupted  during  Boxer  troubles,  was  completed 


234         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

and  consecrated.  The  English  community  for  whom 
the  Mission  had  been  providing  services  since  the  first 
year  of  Mr.  Ingle's  residence  now  expressed  the  de 
sire  that  one  of  the  American  Mission  clergy  be 
definitely  set  apart  as  their  chaplain,  giving  them 
part  of  his  time  for  which  they  would  provide  part 
of  his  salary.  The  Rev.  A.  M.  Sherman  was  ap 
pointed  to  this  position,  and  from  that  time  on  this 
work  in  Hankow  has  been  cared  for  by  one  of  our 
men  definitely  appointed  to  the  post.  Later  with 
the  growth  of  the  port  a  solid  and  handsome  new 
Church  and  Rectory  have  been  built  by  the  mem 
bers  of  the  British  and  American  community  and 
their  friends,  and  the  work  has  grown  in  importance 
and  interest. 

Hunan.  Another  great  province  now  claimed  at 
tention.  Hunan,  so  long  the  object  of  Christian 
hopes  and  prayers,  was  at  last  open  to  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel.  In  1897  Dr.  Boone  wrote  as  follows : 
"The  province  of  Hunan  in  Central  China  is  large 
and  mountainous.  Her  hardy  mountaineers  are  the 
best  soldiers  in  China.  It  has  been  their  boast  that 
no  white  man  could  live  or  even  travel  in  Hunan. 
It  has  been  the  center  from  which  emanated  the  vile 
literature  attacking  the  Christian  religion  and  mak 
ing  atrocious  charges  against  the  Christians.  Now 
the  chancellor  of  education,  a  high  official,  has  is 
sued  an  address  to  the  colleges  and  students  in  the 
provinces,  thousands  in  number,  and  he  says  to 
them :  'I  was  opposed  to  all  Western  learning  and 
religion  upon  hearsay  evidence  only.  The  course  of 


The  Boxer  Movement  and  After  235 

events  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  study  these 
things  for  myself.  I  find  that  I  was  misinformed, 
that  Western  learning  is  valuable.  I  have  read  the 
Bible.  It  is  an  admirable  work,  and  I  now  publicly 
withdraw  my  opposition  both  to  learning  and  re 
ligious  doctrines  and  I  advise  you  to  study  these 
things  for  yourself/  Such  is  now  the  attitude  of 
many  men  who  lead  opinion  in  China." 3 

Naturally  when  the  door  was  opened  after  the 
Boxer  year  and  the  city  of  Changsha  was  made  a 
"treaty-port/'  our  Mission  wished  to  be  among  the 
first  to  enter.  It  was  convenient  to  our  work,  ad 
joining  the  province  of  Hupeh,  and  Changsha  was 
distant  only  two  hundred  miles  by  boat  from  Han 
kow.  The  natives  were  inviting  foreign  mission 
aries  to  come  and  preach  and  teach  and  the  diffi 
culties  in  purchasing  mission  property  were  largely 
removed.  Bishop  Graves  appealed  for  new  workers 
for  Wuchang  or  Hankow  so  that  a  trained  and  ex 
perienced  man  might  be  sent  to  occupy  the  great 
new  field  in  the  name  of  this  Church.  In  June,  1902, 
the  station  was  opened  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hwang, 
one  of  the  strongest  of  the  native  clergy  in  charge. 

Anking.  At  Anking  five  hundred  miles  from  the 
coast  the  work  was  also  full  of  promise.  In  1900 
land  had  been  purchased  for  mission  buildings  and 
the  first  permanent  foothold  obtained.  Speaking  of 
this  purchase  Dr.  Woodward,  who  had  gone  to  this 
station  early  in  1900,  wrote,  "Land  purchase  in 
China  is  tedious  and  vexatious  beyond  belief.  Such 

1  Dr.  Boone,  Spirit  of  Missions,  p.  541,  1897. 


236         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

negotiations  usually  consume  months  and  even 
years,  and  sound  every  depth  of  the  shameless 
trickery,  subterfuge  and  lying  in  which  oriental 
civilization  is  steeped.  It  is  the  history  in  minia 
ture  of  the  peace  negotiations  at  Pekin.  With  us 
the  difficulties  were  much  enhanced  by  the  necessity 
of  buying  in  succession  five  contiguous  lots  from  as 
many  different  owners.  Patient  effort,  however, 
finally  brought  its  reward  and  the  Church  now  owns 
a  compound  three  hundred  feet  long  and  half  as 
wide,  some  of  the  most  desirably  located  property 
in  the  city." 

On  this  compound  inexpensive  buildings  in  native 
style  were  erected  under  Dr.  Woodward's  careful 
supervision.  The  medical  compound  adjoined  the 
general  one  and  here  the  first  hospital  building  was 
erected. 

Taihu.  In  the  new  chapel  a  good  congregation 
was  steadily  built  up  and  plans  for  extension  were 
considered.  Sixty  miles  northwest  of  Anking  is 
situated  the  town  of  Taihu  the  busy  center  of  a 
fertile  hill  country.  Visitors  from  this  town  had 
been  coming  to  the  services  in  Anking  and  becom 
ing  much  interested  in  the  new  religion.  Native 
helpers  had  been  sent  to  visit  Taihu  from  time  to 
time  and  in  1902  Mr.  Lindstrom  visited  the  station 
and  received  the  offer  of  land  for  a  church.  It  was 
decided  as  soon  as  possible  to  have  a  native  cate- 
chist  resident  at  this  place  and  make  a  permanent 
beginning  of  a  chain  of  stations  in  northern 
Nganhwei. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SOME  OF  THE  CONGREGATION  AT  TAI-HU 


I 


INGLE    HALL,    BOONE    UNIVERSITY,    WUCHANG 


The  Boxer  Movement  and  After  237 

Ichang.  After  the  retirement  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Col 
lins,  in  1899,  Ichang  had  been  without  a  foreigner 
in  charge.  It  was  so  far  away  from  the  nearest 
foreign  missionary,  being  four  hundred  miles  from 
Hankow  (three  days'  journey  with  the  possibility 
of  considerable  extension  if  the  steamer  stuck  on  a 
sandbank),  that  it  was  impossible  to  properly  de 
velop  this  section  without  a  resident  missionary. 
In  1901,  the  Rev.  D.  T.  Huntington  was  appointed 
to  this  outpost  of  the  China  work  and  the  years 
since  that  time  of  continuous  faithful  oversight  have 
seen  Ichang  develop  into  one  of  the  strong  centers 
of  mission  activity. 

Wusih.  Extension  was  also  being  planned  and 
pushed  in  the  Shanghai  district.  Shortly  before  the 
Boxer  movement  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mosher  had  made 
an  extended  trip  over  the  region  to  the  north  of 
Shanghai  looking  toward  the  founding  of  more  out- 
station  work.  This  had  long  been  the  hope  of  the 
workers.  As  far  back  as  1879  at  a  meeting  of  the 
clergy  a  resolution  was  passed  that  a  chain  of  sta 
tions  be  made  connecting  Shanghai  with  the  city 
of  Wuhu  on  the  Yangtse  river,  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  and  eighty  English  miles.  By  1896,  after 
seventeen  years,  a  small  circle  of  five  stations  had 
been  opened  in  the  Kia-ding  district.  In  that  year 
Tai-Tsau,  the  furthest  new  station,  was  opened, 
forty  miles  distant  from  Shanghai.  This  was  occu 
pied  by  a  catechist.  In  1897,  Zangzok,  fifty-five 
miles  distant  from  Shanghai,  was  opened  and  a  dea 
con  stationed  there. 


238         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

These  newer  stations  however  had  not  been  prop 
erly  developed  because,  the  Mission  being  always 
under-manned,  the  clergyman  in  charge  of  the  coun 
try  work  was  also  responsible  for  important  work 
in  the  city  of  Shanghai  and  found  it  difficult  to  get 
the  time  for  the  long  trips  by  little  boats  necessary 
to  give  the  outstations  proper  supervision.  When, 
however,  with  the  increase  of  the  staff  it  seemed 
possible  to  have  one  or  two  foreign  missionaries 
free  for  this  work  a  trip  was  made  to  investigate, 
looking  forward  to  the  fulfillment  of  a  long  cher 
ished  ideal. 

It  resulted  in  opening  work  in  Wusih,  an  import 
ant  walled  city  with  a  population  of  from  one  hun 
dred  thousand  to  three  hundred  thousand  people. 
As  the  center  of  a  big  rice  and  silk  district  and  from 
its  position  on  the  Grand  Canal  it  promised  to  be 
another  strategic  center.  The  Rev.  P.  N.  Tsu  was 
first  sent  to  prepare  the  way.  He  was  afterward  fol 
lowed  by  the  Rev.  Cameron  F.  McRae.  These  work 
ers  were  cordially  received  by  the  gentry  of  the 
place  who  entered  into  the  plans  for  the  establish 
ment  of  a  mission  station  there  with  warm  interest. 
The  reports  of  the  work  of  the  Mission  had  reached 
their  ears  and  they  were  very  desirous  that  it  come 
and  open  a  school  and  give  public  lectures  on  practi 
cal  and  scientific  subjects.  These  new  friends  were 
frank  to  admit  that  at  present  they  had  no  desire 
to  become  Christians,  but  they  realized  that  wrhat 
China  needed  was  progress  and  reform.  If  Chris 
tianity  would  be  for  the  welfare  of  their  country 


The  Boxer  Movement  and  After  239 

they  would  like  to  know  more  about  it. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  work  was  started. 
The  people  were  eager  and  receptive.  The  board 
ing  school  was  a  success  from  the  start  and  the  peo 
ple  were  desirous  of  a  foreign  physician  and  hos 
pital.  A  house  was  rented  for  $25  (Mexican)  per 
month  which  was  put  to  many  uses,  for  here  was  the 
chapel,  the  boarding  school  with  dormitories  for 
about  ten  boys,  with  school  office,  wash  rooms,  etc., 
a  day  school  for  thirty  boys,  a  home  for  the  native 
deacon  and  his  family  and  rooms  for  the  foreign 
missionary.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  it 
is  only  a  rambling  Chinese  house  that  possesses 
such  elastic  proportions.  Work  is  always  begun 
in  a  new  place  in  rented  quarters  in  order  to  give 
time  to  decide,  before  locating  definitely,  whether 
it  is  a  good  place  to  establish  mission  work  or  riot. 

St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital,  Shanghai.  In  1899,  Mrs. 
Winslow,  the  wife  of  a  commander  in  the  United 
States  Army,  while  visiting  in  Shanghai  was  much 
impressed  by  the  need  of  a  separate  hospital  for  the 
women  and  children  of  that  city,  and  wrote  an 
earnest  appeal  addressed  to  the  college  girls  of 
America.  She  died  soon  after,  and  this  appeal, 
found  in  her  desk,  was  sent  out,  not  only  to  college 
girls,  but  through  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  to  the 
women  and  girls  of  the  Church.  In  the  fall  of  1900 
Dr.  Gates,  after  four  years  of  efficient  service  in  the 
woman's  ward  at  St.  Luke's,  while  home  in  America, 
added  her  earnest  words  to  Mrs.  Winslow's  appeal 
and  the  result  was  the  erection  in  1902  of  St.  Eliza- 


240         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

beth's  Hospital  on  a  lot  adjoining  St.  Peter's  Church 
in  Sinza. 

Help  for  the  Slave  Girls.  There  has  been  no  more 
beneiicent  work  done  by  our  woman's  hospital  in 
Shanghai  than  that  for  slave  girls.  This  pitiful  and 
neglected  class  is  composed  of  children  who  are  pur 
chased  as  infants  from  poor  parents  and  are  brought 
up  either  to  become  servants  in  wealthy  families, 
or  for  immoral  purposes,  or  to  lead  the  wretched 
lives  of  concubines.  The  woman's  ward  at  St. 
Luke's  and  its  successor,  St.  Elizabeth's  at  Sinza, 
have  treated  many  of  these  patients,  not  brought  by 
kind  friends,  but  rescued  by  the  police  in  the  foreign 
settlement  when  their  cries  of  anguish  have  been 
overheard.  In  such  cases  the  police  go  in  and  forci 
bly  take  the  suffering  little  ones  from  their  cruel 
owners.  Miss  Crummer,  writing  of  the  hospital  in 
1901,  tells  of  two  typical  cases. 

"I  have  seen,  in  the  last  year,  one  little  girl 
brought  in  who  was  beaten  unto  death  by  her  mis 
tress.  She  lived  for  two  weeks  in  mortal  terror 
when  she  saw  anyone  approaching  her  bedside,  and 
then  she  passed  away.  Another  day  I  encountered 
an  English  policeman  bringing  in  a  child  of  eight, 
whom  he  had  cut  down,  having  found  her  suspended 
by  her  little  thumbs  until  they  were  swollen  and 
festered.  These  little  slave  girls  grow  very  fond  of 
the  hospital  life  and  they  are  the  quickest  of  all  to 
pick  up  Christian  teaching.  Dr.  Gates  is  devoted  to 
them  and  teaches  them  to  sing  our  children's  hymns 
which  greatly  delights  them/' 


The  Boxer  Movement  and  After  241 

St.  Mary's  Hall.  To  these  other  advances  must 
be  added  the  completion  of  the  Twing  Memorial 
Fund  for  the  new  building  for  St.  Mary's  Hall, 
Shanghai.  This  most  fitting  memorial  of  many 
years  of  loving,  unwearied  service  for  the  women 
and  girls  in  mission  lands  by  the  Honorary  Secre 
tary  of  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  gave  a  convenient 
home  for  this  growing  activity  and  made  possible  the 
increase  of  the  work  of  rescuing  of  hundreds  of  un 
welcome  girls  from  the  awful  degradation  of  hea 
thenism.  In  connection  with  this  it  is  interesting 
to  note  a  new  departure  in  the  work  of  the  educa 
tion  of  girls  in  China.  Physical  drill  was  novel 
enough  for  boys,  but  it  was  unheard  of  for  girls. 
Miss  Dodson  at  St.  Mary's,  however,  found  that  it 
was  most  successful.  She  writes : 

"Mr  Cooper,  although  a  very  busy  man,  has 
drilled  the  girls  regularly,  and  as  a  consequence  the 
general  health  is  very  good.  Round  shoulders  have 
straightened,  hollow  chests  have  filled  out,  and  one 
pair  of  bound  feet  has  so  spread  that  they  are  not 
small  feet,  'golden  lilies/  any  longer.  Once  or  twice 
the  boys'  football  (from  St.  John's  College)  has 
come  over  the  walls  and  the  girls  enjoyed  its  brief 
stay  so  much  on  their  playground  that  Santa  Claus 
brought  them  one  of  their  own.  Our  small  footed 
girl  can  send  it  the  farthest.  Such  doings  may 
cause  Confucius  to  turn  in  his  grave." 

The  years  following  the  Boxer  uprising  were 
marked  by  extensive  building  operations  and  new 
centers  of  light  were  started  here  and  there  from  one 


242        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

end  of  the  district  to  the  other.  The  total  value  of 
all  the  property  of  the  Mission  in  1901  was  $300,000. 
It  represented  stations  stretched  over  a  distance  of 
one  thousand  miles  and  comprised  a  college,  many 
schools,  boarding  and  day,  churches,  chapels,  four 
hospitals  and  residences  for  all  the  missionaries  and 
native  workers.  As  the  Editor  of  the  Spirit  of  Mis 
sions  remarked  at  the  time:  ''This  is  rather  less 
than  the  value  of  a  single  parish  plant  in  a  large 
city  at  home."  It  represented  the  investment  of 
the  whole  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States, 
in  a  section  of  China  with  a  population  of  over  one 
hundred  millions  of  people  for  whom  it  was  respon 
sible,  for  founding  the  Church. 


DIVISION     OF     THE     MISSIONARY 
JURISDICTION 

1900-1903 


CHAPTER  XI 

DIVISION    OF    THE    MISSIONARY 
JURISDICTION 

1900-1903 

The  First  Bishop  of  Hankow.  For  many  years 
the  question  of  dividing  the  great  and  unwieldy 
jurisdiction  of  the  American  Church  in  China  had 
been  considered  and  now  with  the  growth  of  the 
work  became  imperative.  In  his  report,  in  1901, 
Bishop  Graves  submitted  his  plans  for  a  division 
and  it  received  the  warm  support  of  the  Board  of 
Managers.  The  jurisdiction  comprised  the  prov 
inces  of  Kiangsu  in  which  Shanghai,  Wusih  and 
Suchow  are  situated,  Anhui  in  which  the  principal 
cities  occupied  were  Wuhu  and  Anking,  northern 
Kiangsi  where  work  had  recently  been  opened  in 
Kiukiang,  Hupeh  where  Hankow,  Wuchang,  Shasi 
and  Ichang  wrere  the  chief  centers  of  mission  ac 
tivity  and  the  northern  section  of  the  long  closed 
province  of  Hunan,  the  capital  of  which,  Changsha, 
had  been  occupied  in  1901.  We  can  get  some  idea 
of  the  size  of  the  jurisdiction  by  comparing  it  with 
our  home  field.  Placed  on  the  map  of  the  United 
States  it  would  reach  from  Philadelphia  to  St.  Louis, 

245 


246         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

but  its  population  was  much  larger  and  the  dis 
tances,  which  had  at  that  time  to  be  traversed  by 
boat,  practically  much  greater.  All  the  inland  travel 
away  from  the  waterways  had  to  be  done  by  wheel 
barrow,  sedan-chair,  mule-back  or  on  foot.  In  this 
way  much  of  the  Bishop's  time  was  consumed  in 
his  journeys.  There  was  furthermore  a  decided  dif 
ference  in  language ;  the  people  of  Kiangsu,  save  for 
the  comparatively  small  northern  section,  speaking 
the  Shanghai  dialect  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  other 
provinces  in  the  jurisdiction  spoke  Mandarin  which 
was  so  entirely  different  that  people  from  one  sec 
tion  could  not  understand  the  other.  This  involved 
many  difficulties  in  conferences,  synods  and  in  ad 
ministration  generally.  In  addition  to  all  this  the 
work  had  doubled  since  Bishop  Graves  had  been  put 
in  charge  of  it  in  1893. 

The  General  Convention  of  1901  meeting  in  San 
Francisco  divided  the  jurisdiction  in  China,  making  the 
missionary  district  of  Shanghai  to  consist  of  the  Prov 
ince  of  Fiangsu,  a  section  about  as  large  as  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  district  of  Hankow  to  consist  of 
all  the  remainder.  The  Mission  was  fortunate  in  secur 
ing  for  the  new  Bishop  a  man  who  had  been  in  the 
field  for  ten  years  and  had  a  thorough  and  wide  ex 
perience  in  the  work.  James  Addison  Ingle,  who 
had  come  to  Hankow  in  1892,  had  acquired  to  a 
marked  degree  not  only  a  splendid  knowledge  of 
the  language,  but  the  confidence  and  affection  of  his 
fellow  workers,  both  foreign  and  Chinese.  He 
brought  to  his  difficult  tasks  such  an  evident  capac- 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     247 

ity  for  work,  such  a  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs, 
and  above  all,  such  an  entire  consecration  to  the 
service  of  his  Master  and  the  men  in  China  for  whom 
He  died,  that  the  election  brought  general  satisfac 
tion  and  rejoicing.  It  was  hard  for  the  workers 
"upriver"  to  separate  from  the  Bishop  to  whom 
they  were  unusually  devoted  and  from  the  workers 
in  the  Shanghai  district  with  whom  they  had  la 
bored  in  close  spiritual  fellowship,  but  in  the  inter 
ests  of  the  work  all  felt  that  the  division  was  wise, 
and,  with  such  a  leader,  full  of  promise. 

Value  of  the  Catechists*  Training  School.  Perhaps 
of  all  the  varied  forms  of  work  in  which  Mr.  Ingle 
had  been  successfully  engaged  none  was  of  greater 
importance  than  the  work  which  he  had  inherited 
from  Mr.  Locke  and  further  developed,  i.  e.,  the  train 
ing  of  native  lay  workers  as  catechists.  In  addition 
to  all  his  pastoral  cares,  his  outstation  work,  with 
numerous  chapels  and  day  schools,  the  English 
Church  work,  of  which  he  had  charge  for  several 
years,  his  work  in  translation  and  on  the  Standing 
Committee  he  had  yet  found  time  to  gather  around 
him  a  group  of  men  and  teach  them  to  be  teachers 
of  the  heathen  at  the  outposts  and  assistants  to  the 
native  clergy  in  the  large  central  cities.  The  value 
of  this  work  was  seen  in  the  marked  improvement 
in  the  preparation  of  candidates  for  Baptism  and 
Confirmation  in  all  the  stations  where  there  was  a 
catechist  who  had  been  trained  in  Hankow. 

Consecration  of  Bishop  Ingle.  The  Bishop-elect 
selected  his  own  station  of  Hankow  as  the  place  for 


248         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

his  consecration.  This  occurred  on  St.  Matthias* 
Day,  1902,  in  St.  PauPs  Church,  which  was  ap 
pointed  as  the  Cathedral  for  the  new  jurisdiction. 
Thus  after  sixty  years  of  faithful  hard  work  the 
Mission  had  set  apart  its  first  Bishop  of  the  upriver 
work.  It  was  a  day  of  great  rejoicing  in  the  China 
Mission. 

Guests  for  this  great  event  came  from  far  and  near. 
From  Japan  came  Bishops  Partridge  and  McKim, 
with  attending  presbyters,  one  of  whom  was  Japan 
ese;  from  Shanghai  came  Bishop  Graves  with  for 
eign  and  Chinese  priests.  From  Korea  came  Bishop 
Corfe  of  the  Church  of  England  Mission.  Promi 
nent  Chinese  laymen  from  every  important  upriver 
station  were  present. 

At  the  early  age  of  thirty-six,  vigorous  in  experi 
ence  and  in  purpose  if  not  in  health,  Bishop  Ingle 
came  to  his  new  work.  How  little  any  one  thought 
on  that  bright,  happy  day  that  in  less  than  two  years 
the  call  to  come  up  higher  still  would  come  and  his 
saddened  fellow  workers  would  be  bringing  his  tired 
body  again  to  the  Church  he  loved,  to  rest  for  a  lit 
tle  while  at  the  foot  of  those  chancel  steps!  His 
short  Episcopate  however  was  to  be  of  great  value 
to  the  Mission  and  mark  a  distinct  advance  in  the 
work  of  the  Church. 

First  Episcopal  Visitation.  We  can  get  some 
idea  of  the  work  as  Bishop  Ingle  found  it  and  of 
the  spirit  of  the  man  from  his  account  of  his  first 
visitations  both  up  and  down  river  from  Hankow 
to  the  two  ends  of  his  jurisdiction: 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     249 

"The  general  impression  made  on  my  mind  by 
my  visit  to  all  the  Stations  was  distinctly  encourag 
ing.  I  found  that  the  work  was  being  done,  not  only 
industriously  but  intelligently.  The  behavior  of 
catechists  and  people  has  improved  greatly.  We 
rarely  need  to  find  serious  fault  with  one  of  the  for 
mer,  while  the  latter  have  a  far  clearer  idea  of  their 
duties  as  Christians  than  ever  before.  The  system 
of  discipline,  on  which  we  have  been  working  for  the 
last  seven  or  eight  years,  is  now  in  force  in  almost 
all  stations,  and  is  proving  itself  a  great  assistance. 
More  and  more  the  workers  of  all  classes  are  coming 
to  realize  the  Mission  motto  of  'Thorough.'  We 
have  in  most  stations,  and  are  supplying  to  all  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  trained  clergymen,  catechists, 
Bible-women  and  teachers.  One  of  the  most  en 
couraging  signs  is  the  frankness  with  which  most 
of  the  native  workers  meet  the  foreign  clergy  and 
discuss  with  them  questions  of  importance,  about 
which,  ten  years  ago,  they  would  not  have  opened 
their  mouths.  In  short,  training  and  organization 
are  increasing  the  effectiveness  of  our  work.  *  *  * 
As  for  the  Chinese  clergy,  with  scarcely  an  excep 
tion,  their  efficiency  and  general  helpfulness  in 
crease  year  by  year. 

"Two  thoughts  were  deeply  impressed  upon  me 
as  I  went  in  and  out  among  our  people  and  saw  how 
differently  they  regard  questions  of  right  and  wrong 
from  their  heathen  neighbors.  The  first  was: 
What  a  revolution  must  be  wrought  in  the  mind  of 
a  sincere  heathen  when  he  is  brought  face  to  face 


250         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

with  the  ideal  of  the  Christian.  It  is  no  longer  a 
string  of  platitudes  about  'the  Superior  Man5  but 
it  demands  conformity  to  the  likeness  of  the  Son 
of  God,  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  It  promises  strength 
and  ultimate  success.  As  day  after  day  unfolds 
more  clearly  the  deep  seated  ills  of  this  decayed 
civilization,  so  more  and  more  firmly  am  I  con 
vinced  that  nothing  but  the  response  of  her  people 
to  this  voice  of  God  can  save  China  from  utter,  irre 
trievable  ruin. 

"The  second  thought  was:  What  must  it  mean, 
to  one  who  is  truly  trying  to  attain  this  ideal,  to 
realize  that  the  Church  is  earnestly  watching  his 
every  action,  ready  to  praise,  to  blame,  if  necessary, 
to  punish?  Someone  cares  for  him,  as  a  man,  not 
for  his  money,  but  for  him,  that  he  may  become 
more  a  man.  When  he  sees  his  fellow  Christians 
punished  for  serious  offenses  not  by  a  money  fine 
but  by  open  discipline,  which  marks  for  them  and 
all  the  world  the  hatefulness  of  sin,  he  must  real 
ize,  if  he  reflects  at  all,  that  the  thing  which  the 
Church  most  loves  is  holiness,  most  hates  is  sin.  And 
she  stands  ready  to  lead  all  her  children  in  the  way 
of  holiness,  to  insist  that  they  shall  walk  in  it,  on 
pain  of  forfeiture  of  their  rights  as  children.  I  be 
lieve  that,  for  a  young  Church,  newly  emerged  from 
heathenism,  there  can  be  no  more  helpful  influence 
for  molding  character  than  wise  discipline,  ten 
derly,  prayerfully  administered." 

Discipline.  The  conditions  of  the  Church  in  a 
great  heathen  land  are  similar  in  many  ways  to  the 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     251 

conditions  which  faced  the  Church  in  the  early  cen 
turies.  The  temptations  which  beset  the  early 
Christians  from  the  forces  of  heathenism  around 
them  to  which  St.  Paul  refers  in  his  Epistles  are 
strong  today  around  our  Christians  in  China,  and 
as  in  those  early  days  the  sins  and  relapses  of  Chris 
tians  into  evil  ways  had  to  be  strictly  disciplined  so 
is  it  also  in  China.  Bishop  Ingle  especially  empha 
sized  and  developed  this,  using  the  regulations  on 
discipline  agreed  upon  by  the  Bishop  in  China  in 
their  Conference  in  1899.  When  a  Christian  griev 
ously  or  openly  sinned,  for  the  sake  of  the  good 
name  of  the  Church,  whose  reputation  among  the 
heathen  must  be  preserved  if  it  was  to  win  the  ap 
proval  of  the  best  of  the  Chinese,  as  well  as  for  his 
own  sake,  public  discipline  must  be  administered. 
If  the  offender  is  sorry  for  his  sin  and  is  willing  to 
undergo  discipline  it  begins  immediately.  At  the 
time  appointed  the  penitent  is  escorted  to  the  steps 
at  the  entrance  of  the  choir  where  the  Bishop  or 
priest  explains  to  the  congregation  what  is  about  to 
be  done.  The  penitent  then  reads  his  confession  of 
sin  against  God  and  His  Body  the  Church,  there 
upon  after  a  prayer  for  pardon  the  absolution  may 
be  pronounced  immediately  or  deferred  for  a  fixed 
time,  to  test  the  sincerity  of  the  repentance,  during 
which  the  penitent  occupies  a  seat  among  the  cate 
chumens  until  such  time  as  the  restoration  to  com 
munion  takes  place.  If  the  offender  refuses  to  sub 
mit  to  discipline  his  name  is  posted  on  the  Church 
door  with  a  description  of  his  offense  and  he  is 


252         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

declared  excommunicated  until  such  time  as  the  sin 
is  acknowledged  and  put  away. 

Training  Day-School  Teachers.  From  the  begin 
ning  of  the  work  in  China  the  day  school  was  an  im 
portant  adjunct  to  the  work.  This  was  usually  the 
first  arm  of  the  Church  to  become  operative  in  a 
new  station.  For  years  these  were  charitable  insti 
tutions  opened  in  order  to  get  in  touch  with  the  peo 
ple.  At  first  everything  was  supplied  to  the  dozen 
or  two  boys  who  would  come  because  they  were  so 
poor  that  there  was  no  hope  of  their  getting  an  edu 
cation  in  any  other  way.  The  schools  differed  very 
little  from  the  heathen  pay  schools  around  except 
that,  in  addition  to  the  memorizing  of  Chinese  clas 
sics,  Christian  doctrine  was  regularly  taught.  As 
time  went  on  the  Mission  sought  to  improve  upon 
the  native  method  and  tried  to  make  the  pupils 
understand  what  they  recited  parrot  fashion.  In 
the  face  at  first  of  considerable  opposition  from 
the  native  simple  arithmetic  and  geography  were 
added.  As  the  demand  for  "Western  learning" 
grew  it  was  determined  to  charge  a  small  fee. 
There  were  many  dismal  forebodings  on  the 
part  of  native  helpers  that  no  pupils  would 
come.  But  the  plan  proved  a  success  wherever 
started  and  by  the  end  of  the  century  was  gen 
erally  adopted.  After  Boxer  year  when  the  schools 
were  reopened  it  was  determined  to  further  add  sim 
ple  Western  subjects  to  the  day-school  curriculum. 
But  now  a  great  difficulty  arose.  Who  were  to  teach 
these  strange  things?  The  day-school  teachers, 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction      253 

learned,  round-shouldered,  bespectacled,  middle- 
aged  gentlemen  were  learned  in  Confucius  and  Men- 
cius  but  they  knew  nought  of  anything  newer  than 
a  learning  ten  or  twenty  centuries  old.  Yet  they 
were  the  only  teachers  available.  A  normal  school  be 
came  necessary,  but  like  everything  else  in  the  Mission 
field  it  was  a  slow  growth.  It  began  with  a  normal 
class  of  dignified  teachers  called  together  by  Bishop 
Ingle  before  his  election,  to  meet  for  a  short  time  dur 
ing  vacation.  The  way  was  prepared  by  a  growing 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  that  it  was  hard 
to  teach  what  they  did  not  know.  But  another  dif 
ficulty  presented  itself  in  finding  a  suitable  teacher. 
The  name  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hu,  headmaster  at  Boone 
School,  naturally  suggested  itself  but  all  of  the  men 
coming  to  be  taught  were  older  than  he — some  had 
Chinese  degrees  while  he  had  none  and  moreover 
one  of  them  had  years  before  been  his  teacher  and 
he  had  come  under  his  rod.  But  finally  all  the  diffi 
culties  were  overcome  and  the  work  started  of 
studying  the  rudiments  of  science.  Bishop  Ingle 
thus  described  it. 

"It  was  most  interesting  to  watch  the  interest  in 
creasing  as  time  went  on.  It  was  an  introduction 
to  entirely  new  worlds  to  most  of  the  student-teach 
ers  to  realize  that  the  lightning  and  thunder  were 
the  product  of  natural  causes  and  not  of  super 
natural  powers  which  they  were  obliged  to  pro 
pitiate.  They  had  heard  something  about  this,  it  is 
true,  but  it  had  seemed  an  empty  tale  until,  with 
their  own  eyes,  they  saw  the  electric  spark  repro- 


254         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

duced  and  heard  the  noise  it  made  in  its  course.  Now 
they  knew  that  the  dew  was  not  "earth  sweat,"  that 
the  dragon  did  not  send  the  rain  and  what  made  the 
wind  blow.  They  not  only  understood  these  things 
but  they  were  prepared  to  explain  them  to  others. 
And  the  more  they  understood  the  more  their  inter 
est  in  spiritual  things  grew.  Before  long  they  had 
asked  some  of  the  Chinese  clergy  to  come  to  their 
rooms  in  the  evening  and  explain  to  them  religious 
things  about  which  they  were  in  doubt.  *  *  *  One 
of  them  said  to  one  of  the  foreign  clergy  of  the 
Mission :  'Now  I  really  begin  to  know  something. 
I  thought  I  knew  before.  But  it  was  all  false  and 
empty.  Now  I  begin  to  know  the  truth/  And  he 
was  a  B.A.  of  advanced  years." 

The  Service  of  Science.  This  is  a  good  example 
of  what  was  beginning  to  take  place  in  the  minds  of 
many  of  the  leaders  in  China  and  was  producing  the 
awakening  of  that  vast  Empire  from  its  sleep  ot 
ages.  It  is  also  an  example  of  what  the  teaching  of 
science  was  doing  for  Christianity.  It  was  driving 
out  many  superstitions  of  heathen  religion  and  pre 
paring  the  way  for  the  Truth.  A  young  man  who 
is  now  one  of  the  most  alert  and  earnest  of  the  cate- 
chists  in  the  Hankow  district  one  day  had  explained 
to  his  satisfaction  and  comprehension  that  the  earth 
was  round.  As  the  fact  dawned  upon  him  it  brought 
to  his  attractive  face  a  new  look  of  joy  and  great  in 
terest.  "Now,"  he  said,  "I  am  ready  to  believe  the 
other  equally  difficult  things  that  the  missionaries 
have  told  me  about  God." 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     255 

Plan  of  Campaign.  Upon  his  consecration  Bishop 
Ingle  formulated  a  vigorous  policy  of  development 
as  the  goal  toward  which  both  the  foreign  and  native 
workers  and  the  home  supporters  should  work.  It 
soon  became  evident  that  the  new  jurisdiction  was 
under  far-seeing  and  practical  direction  and  his 
workers  set  themselves  with  renewed  confidence 
and  zeal  to  the  carrying  out  of  his  policy.  With 
some  modifications  and  enlargements  due  to  chang 
ing  circumstances  it  is  still  the  ideal  toward  which 
the  Central  China  Missions  are  working  and  while 
too  long  for  detailed  enumeration  here  it  will  help 
us  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  present  mission 
policy  in  China  to  consider  briefly  its  main  outlines. 

1.  Evangelistic.     The  planting  of  strong  central 
stations  in  the  capital  cities  of  the  provinces  and 
other  important  cities.    In  these  foreign  missionaries 
are  to  live  and  train  and  guide  the  native  workers. 
From  these  centers  smaller  cities  and  towns  are  to 
be  worked. 

2.  Educational.     To  have  in  every  station,  large 
and  small,  a  well  conducted  parochial  day  school 
for  the  teaching  of  Christian  and  heathen  boys.    In 
each  large  center  to  have  a  higher  school  called  an 
intermediate  school  to  which  the  more  promising  of 
the  primary  school  boys  may  go.    At  the  apex  of  the 
school  system  is  the  college  into  which  Bishop  In 
gle  planned  to  develop  Boone  School  along  the  lines 
of  the  development  of  St.  John's  College. 

At  that  time  there  was  but  little  demand  for  the 
education  of  girls  so  that  the  scheme  for  girls  was 


256         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

confined  to  a  few  parochial  schools  and  then  St. 
Hilda's  School  in  Wuchang,  corresponding  to  St. 
Mary's  in  Shanghai  and  later  St.  Agnes'  School  in 
Anking.  But  the  Bishop  looked  forward  to  the  day 
when  there  would  be  parochial  schools  for  girls  in 
every  station  and  intermediate  schools  when  cir 
cumstances  permit; — in  fact  to  the  development  of 
the  work  of  the  education  of  girls  along  the  same 
lines  as  that  of  boys. 

All  of  these  schools  are  pay-schools  but  help  in 
the  form  of  scholarships  is  provided  as  far  as  funds 
permit  for  the  children  of  needy  Christian  parents. 

Bishop  Ingle  also  planned  a  normal  school  in 
which  the  teachers  needed  for  the  mission  day 
schools  might  be  trained.  At  the  top  of  the  series 
was  the  Divinity  School  for,  as  the  Bishop  said: 
"The  bulk  of  our  Chinese  clergy  must  be  educated 
men  who  can  lead  their  people." 

3.  Medical.  The  scheme  for  the  medical  work 
provided  for  at  least  two  physicians  at  each  hospital 
so  that  there  might  be  no  interruption  to  the  medi 
cal  work  when  one  doctor  was  sick  or  on  furlough ; 
and  for  the  establishment  of  hospitals  at  Shasi  and 
Kiukiang. 

Much  of  what  Bishop  Ingle  planned  has  been  ac 
complished.  At  that  time  work  was  established  in 
three  of  the  provincial  capitals,  work  having  been 
recently  begun  in  Changsha  the  capital  of  Hunan. 
The  expense  of  the  Hunan  work  was  borne  at  first 
by  the  foreign  missionaries  personally.  Nan  Chang 
the  capital  of  Kiangsi  had  since  been  occupied  although 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     257 

it  has  not  yet  been  equipped.  Practically  all  the  sta 
tions  have  boys'  schools  and  most  of  the  larger 
stations  intermediate  schools  while  the  parochial 
schools  for  girls  are  being  opened  as  far  as  teachers 
can  be  found  to  supply  them.  Five  day  schools  for  girls 
were  opened  during  Bishop  Ingle's  Episcopate.  The 
Normal  School  was  established  soon  after  the  vaca 
tion  normal  school  experiment  referred  to  above. 

Bishop  Ingle's  comprehensive  scheme  for  the  de 
velopment  of  the  work  in  the  huge  district  for  which 
he  was  responsible  looked  forward  to  the  planting 
of  a  strong  native  Church  in  Central  China.  It  had 
never  been  the  hope  of  the  American  Mission  to 
evangelize  China's  millions  by  American  mission 
aries,  but  so  to  plan  and  labor  that  there  might  be  a 
regular  and  increasing  stream  of  native  preachers 
of  the  Word  of  Life.  For  the  fulfillment  of  this 
hope  the  method  outlined  by  Bishop  Ingle,  follow 
ing  the  example  of  the  other  Bishops  in  China,  was 
imperative.  It  required  however  a  growing  increase 
in  the  number  of  foreign  missionaries  as  trained 
leaders  and  in  the  equipment  of  the  great  central 
cities. 

Bishop  Ingle  closed  his  second  and  last  report  in 
these  words :  "We  have  worked  this  year  with  the 
idea  that  we  are  to  spread  the  Kingdom  of  Christ, 
with  appropriations,  if  we  can  get  them ;  if  not,  with 
out.  So,  instead  of  curtailing  work  for  which  no 
funds  were  provided,  I  have  encouraged  all  that 
seemed  to  me  wisely  planned  and  soundly  carried 
out.  I  have  no  heart  for  clipping  wings.  Not  only 


258         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

has  none  of  the  work  been  dropped  for  which  ap 
propriations  were  refused,  but  we  have  extended,  in 
every  direction,  more  widely,  I  believe,  than  in  any 
previous  year  of  our  mission  and  there  is  a  promise 
of  yet  better  things  to  come." 

Death  of  Bishop  Ingle.  Bishop  Ingle  went  back 
to  China  from  his  furlough  in  America  in  1899,  thor 
oughly  tired  out  and  although  at  times  he  seemed 
strong  and  well  it  was  afterward  found  out  that  it 
was  more  strength  of  will  than  strength  of  body. 
After  his  election  to  the  Episcopate  its  many  cares 
and  duties  and  the  slowness  of  the  home  Church  in 
responding  to  the  opportunities  in  China  wore  upon 
him  heavily.  Everywhere  need,  opportunity  and 
openings,  but  workers  few  and  equipment  inade 
quate,  confronted  him.  But  no  matter  how  bur 
dened,  to  his  workers  the  Bishop  was  always  the 
cheery  encouraging  friend.  When  one  of  them  was 
feeling  the  need  of  a  Church  for  his  station  where 
for  many  years  the  congregation  had  worshipped  in 
the  loft  of  a  Chinese  house  and  spoke  despondently 
to  the  Bishop  of  the  need  so  long  unmet,  he  met 
the  cheery  response :  "Cheer  up,  old  boy !  With  God 
and  His  whole  Church  behind  you  what  cause  have 
you  to  worry  about  money  for  your  work  ?" 

The  summer  of  1903  was  spent  in  the  mountains 
at  Ruling  in  the  hope  that  it  would  be  the  means 
of  restoring  Bishop  Ingle  to  vigorous  health.  At 
the  end  of  this  time  he  attended  the  triennial  confer 
ence  of  Anglican  Bishops  in  China,  in  Shanghai. 
Upon  his  return  to  Hankow  he  was  unable  to  attend 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     259 

a  conference  of  his  native  clergy  which  he  had 
carefully  arranged  but  was  sent  to  bed  instead,  the 
bed  from  which  he  never  arose,  dying  of  fever  on 
the  7th  of  December.  The  loss  of  their  brilliant  and 
consecrated  young  leader  came  as  a  very  heavy 
blow  to  his  devoted  fellow  workers.  With  him  at 
the  head  of  the  column  the  march  seemed  easy  and 
bright.  It  did  not  seem  possible  that  he  had  been 
called  away  just  at  what  seemed  the  beginning  of  a 
most  promising  development  of  the  Mission  work. 
But  God  had  other  work  for  him  to  do  and  so,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-six,  the  summons  came  while 
Chinese  and  foreigners  alike  were  left  to  face  the 
future  without  that  strength  and  courage  upon 
which  all  had  come  to  lean. 

When  told  that  he  must  die  Bishop  Ingle  broke 
forth  into  fervent  prayer  for  his  family,  for  the 
Chinese  Church  and  the  Mission,  for  the  strengthen 
ing  of  the  Chinese  Christians  and  the  sending  forth 
of  more  and  better  leaders.  All  at  the  bedside  were 
filled  with  wonder  and  awe  at  his  calmness  and 
clearness.  His  love  for  China  and  the  Church  never 
shone  forth  more  strongly.  "I  have  attended  many 
death-beds,"  said  one  of  the  attending  physicians, 
"but  never  one  like  that." 

Shortly  before  he  died  he  sent  this  message  to  the 
Chinese  Christians.  "Tell  them  that  as  I  have  tried 
to  serve  them  in  Christ's  name  while  living,  so  if 
God  please  to  take  me  away  from  this  world,  I  pray 
that  even  my  death  may  be  a  blessing  to  them  and 
help  them  to  grow  in  the  faith  and  love  of  Christ. 


260         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

May  they  be  pure  in  heart,  loving  Christ  for  His 
own  sake,  and  steadfastly  follow  the  dictates  of  con 
science  uninfluenced  by  sordid  ambitions  or  selfish 
ness  of  any  kind."3 

On  the  sad  day  when  the  Cathedral  was  filled  with 
Chinese  Christians  for  the  funeral  services  Mr. 
Roots  took  this  message  from  the  Bishop  to  them. 

"We  know  that  wherever  he  is  in  Paradise,"  wrote 
Bishop  Graves  after  the  burial,  "he  will  pray  for  us 
and  for  the  victory  of  Christ's  cause  in  China.  It 
was  his  supreme  interest  on  earth  and  death  has 
nothing  in  it  to  change  him.  As  priest  and  bishop 
his  one  aim  was  the  salvation  of  souls.  Duty  and 
loyalty  were  the  guiding  principles  of  his  life  and 
he  had  a  loving  heart  which  drew  all  to  him  who 
knew  him.  I  saw  Chinese  Christian  women  weep 
ing  by  the  side  of  the  road  as  the  funeral  procession 
passed  by,  and  within  and  without  the  Mission  he 
was  loved  with  the  deepest  affection." 

Bishop  Ingle's  Tomb.  At  the  base  of  the  Cross 
which  marks  his  resting  place  in  the  churchyard  of 
the  English  Church  in  Hankow  is  an  inscription  in 
Chinese,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation : 

"James  Addison  Ingle  was  the  first  Bishop  of 
Hankow.  From  the  time  he  gave  himself  to  the 
Church  he  studied  to  make  the  mind  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  his  own.  For  more  than  ten  years  he  pro 
claimed  The  Way  in  Hankow,  making  plain  the 
evidences  of  Sacred  Truth,  shepherding  believers, 


"The  Uplift  of  China,"  Smith,  page  143. 


Division  of  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction     261 

developing  men's  talents,  extending  the  Church, 
uniting  Chinese  and  foreigners,  zealously  embracing 
every  opportunity  to  promote  righteousness,  doing 
with  all  his  heart  whatever  promised  help  to  the 
Chinese  Church,  as  it  is  said  'Bending  his  body  to 
the  task,  and  applying  all  his  powers  unsparingly, 
even  unto  death.'* 

"Now,  though  he  has  passed  from  our  midst,  his 
example  is  ever  fresh  before  us,  even  as  Sacred 
Scriptures  saith  'according  to  the  grace  of  God 
which  was  given  unto  me,  as  a  wise  master  builder 
I  laid  a  foundation  and  another  buildeth  thereon' 
and  'the  foundation  laid  is  Jesus  Christ/ 

"These  few  words  are  respectfully  recorded  as  a 
memorial  for  posterity/' 


'Classical  quotation  from  the  great  historical  novel  "The 

Tirpp    TTinordnmc  n 


Three  Kingdoms. 


A  TIME  OF  HARVEST: 

1903-1907 


CHAPTER  XII 

A  TIME  OF  HARVEST 

1903-1907 

Retrospect  of  Ten  Years.  Bishop  Graves  gave  in 
1903  a  valuable  resume  of  the  steady  growth  that 
had  taken  place  in  the  Mission  work  in  China  during 
the  ten  years  that  had  marked  his  Episcopate.  And 
speaking  of  the  conditions  at  the  end  of  that  period 
he  wrote:  "Certainly  there  never  has  been  a  time 
when  the  Gospel  could  be  preached  so  freely,  or  has 
met  with  so  ready  an  acceptance;  when  Christian 
literature  circulated  so  widely  and  when  the  services 
of  missionary  schools  were  so  fully  appreciated  as 
they  are  today.  The  signs  show  that  we  are  near- 
ing  the  end  of  the  period  in  which  Christianity  has 
had  to  struggle  for  a  bare  foothold,  and  has  been 
obliged  to  devote  its  energies  to  defense,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  the  making  of  a  breach  in  the  walls 
of  ignorance  and  prejudice  on  the  other,  and  that 
we  are  at  the  beginning  of  a  period  when  the  re 
sults  of  the  work  of  the  past  will  be  largely  gathered 
in.  The  past  has  been  a  time  of  sowing  and  the 
time  of  harvest  is  at  hand." 


266         l*he  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

The  actual  progress  as  revealed  in  the  statistics 
was  most  encouraging.  "We  have  now,"  he  con 
tinued,  "two  bishops  and  two  missionary  districts 
and  the  work  in  either  of  these  two  districts  is 
stronger  than  the  whole  Mission  was  then.  We 
were  working  in  three  of  the  provinces  of  China 
then;  we  are  working  in  five  provinces  now.  Our 
foreign  missionaries  were  resident  in  three  cities 
then ;  they  are  resident  in  eight  now.  Our  Mission 
staff  consisted  then  of  seven  foreign  clergy  and 
seven  foreign  lay-workers ;  it  has  now  grown  to  two 
Bishops,  twenty-one  foreign  clergy  and  twenty- 
five  workers.  We  had  but  few  baptized  Chris 
tians  in  addition  to  the  eight  hundred  and 
eighteen  communicants  then;  where  we  have  three 
thousand  six  hundred  baptized  Christians  and  one 
thousand  three  hundred  and  nine  communicants 
now.  These  are  some  of  the  facts  that  lie  on  the 
surface." 

Work  for  Women.  No  more  important  develop- 
ment  had  occurred  in  the  decade  which  1903  closed 
than  the  spread  of  the  work  for  women  due  to  the 
increasing  number  of  women  workers.  Not  only 
was  the  training  school  for  Bible  women  in  Shang 
hai  well  on  its  way  but  in  the  long  neglected  Han 
kow  field  the  arrival  of  five  ladies  between  the  years 
1899  and  1902,  especially  for  the  evangelistic  work 
among  women,  made  possible,  after  forty  years,  the 
first  aggressive  woman's  work  in  the  upriver  dis 
trict.  These  workers  soon  saw  the  necessity  of  a 
local  training  school  for  Chinese  women  to  be 


A  Time  of  Harvest  167 

trained  as  their  assistants.  The  Shanghai  School, 
six  hundred  miles  distant,  was  too  far  to  send  the 
number  of  women  that  it  would  be  necessary  to 
train  for  the  Hankow  district. 

Training  School  for  Bible  Women  in  Hankow. 
Out  of  this  necessity  grew  the  Hankow  Training 
School  for  Bible  Women.  Its  beginnings  were 
small.  The  first  class,  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Roots,  who 
started  the  work,  consisted  of  three  only  who  studied 
for  four  months.  One  of  the  graduates  from  the 
Shanghai  Training  School  assisted  greatly  in  the 
work.  After  this  first  little  class  the  school  proper 
was  started  with  Mrs.  Littell  in  charge,  after  Mrs. 
Roots'  departure  for  America  on  furlough.  Ten 
women  were  in  this  class,  housed  in  a  rented  Chi 
nese  house.  And  so  another  necessity  of  the  work 
was  met,  at  first,  as  all  mission  works  have  been, 
crudely  and  imperfectly  but  growing  in  efficiency 
year  by  year.  While  home  on  furlough  in  1906  Mrs. 
Littell  so  ably  presented  the  need  of  a  proper  home 
for  this  work  that  enough  money  was  contributed  to 
erect  a  substantial  and  permanent  school  building. 

Socchow  Opened.  A  very  important  step  was 
taken  on  October  1st,  1902,  when  the  Mission 
moved  forward  and  occupied  for  the  first  time  the 
great  commercial  city  of  Soochow  about  sixty  miles 
west  of  Shanghai.  Work  on  a  large  scale  was 
planned  and  started  immediately  in  native  quarters. 
Within  six  weeks  after  the  arrival  of  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Ancell  and  Nichols  they  reported  "a  small 
chapel  for  Sunday  services,  a  preaching  hall  open 


268        3?he  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

six  nights  in  the  week  for  pioneer  evangelistic 
work;  a  small  but  flourishing  boys^  school,  paying 
fees;  a  girls'  school,  which  is  not  quite  so  flourish 
ing  because  of  the  Chinese  prejudice  against  the 
education  of  girls ;  an  orphan  asylum  for  boys ;  and 
a  woman's  guest-room,  with  a  capable  Bible  woman 
in  charge,  a  few  enquirers  registered  and  under  in 
struction." 

Outlook  in  Kiangsu  "More  encouraging  than 
ever  before,"  wrote  Bishop  Graves,  a  year  later, 
of  the  outlook  before  the  Church  in  the  province  of 
Kiangsu  in  1904.  "Hitherto  we  have  had  to  per 
suade  the  people  to  be  taught,  now  they  come  to  us 
themselves,  not  one  by  one,  but  in  numbers.  From 
I-jau  a  place  near  Wusih  comes  a  petition  for  a 
Christian  teacher.  Nearly  one  hundred  men  have 
put  their  names  down  on  the  roll  of  enquirers.  The 
Ts'ing-poo  district,  near  Shanghai,  is  the  same  way. 
That  there  is  a  strong  movement  toward  Chris 
tianity  setting  in  is  evident.  We  must  be  equipped 
to  meet  it." 

Yen  Hall.  In  the  Shanghai  Station  one  of  the 
great  events  of  year  1903  was  the  erection  of  the 
new  college  building  for  which  Dr.  Pott,  his 
Chinese  colleagues  and  the  alumni  of  St.  John's 
had  labored  so  earnestly.  The  name  of  one  whose 
ready  help  and  wise  counsel  had  meant  so  much  to 
the  college  in  the  day  of  small  things  and  to  whom 
the  college  was  greatly  indebted  for  its  later  growth 
was  selected  as  the  name  of  the  new  building.  It 
was  called  Yen  Hall,  in  memory  of  the  late  Rev. 


SLAVE   GIRLS   IN   ST.   ELIZABETH'S   HOSPITAL,   SHANGHAI 
MAIN    BUILDING,    ST.    LUKE'S    HOSPITAL,    SHANGHAI 


A  Time  of  Harvest  269 

Y.  K.  Yen,  M.A.  This  was  the  third  large  building 
of  the  College  group  and,  besides  a  splendid  hall 
seating  one  thousand  persons,  gave  dormitory 
accommodations  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  students. 
The  library  was  called  the  Low  Library  in  honor 
of  the  New  York  family  which  has  so  often  stood 
a  friend  to  the  China  Mission. 

New  Hospital  Building  for  St.  Luke's.  The 
medical  work  in  Shanghai  had  been  much 
strengthened  in  1901  by  the  coming  of  a  colleague 
for  Dr.  Boone — Dr.  William  H.  JefTerys. 

For  some  time  it  had  been  apparent  to  the  friends 
of  St.  Luke's  Hospital  that  if  it  was  to  meet  the 
increasing  demands  made  upon  it  and  keep  pace 
with  the  rapid  development  of  Shanghai  it  must 
double  the  number  of  its  beds  and  advance  in  its 
general  equipment.  It  was  therefore  a  time  of  great 
rejoicing  when  in  1903  a  new  administration  build 
ing  was  erected  representing  the  expenditure  of 
something  over  $12,000,  the  gift  of  a  Philadelphia 
Churchman,  Mr.  Charles  P.  B.  JefTerys,  making 
possible  a  considerable  extension  of  the  Hospital's 
work. 

Bishop  Roots.  After  the  death  of  Bishop  Ingle, 
Bishop  Graves  was  in  charge  of  the  two  districts 
in  China  until  the  consecration  of  another  Bishop 
for  Hankow.  It  was  no  surprise  and  a  matter  of 
widespread  satisfaction  when  the  Rev.  Logan  H. 
Roots  of  Hankow  was  chosen  by  the  General  Con 
vention,  meeting  in  Boston  in  1904,  to  be  the  Mis 
sionary  Bishop  of  the  vacant  jurisdiction.  He 


270        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

seemed  to  be  the  natural  successor  to  Bishop 
Ingle — as  during  the  latter's  short  Episcopate  he 
had  been  closely  associated  with  Mr.  Roots  and  as 
President  of  the  Standing  Committee  they  had 
worked  together  over  many  a  mission  problem. 
Like  Bishop  Ingle  the  new  Bishop  had  devoted 
much  time  to  the  training  of  native  catechists  and 
was  greatly  loved  and  trusted  by  foreigners  and 
Chinese  alike.  Again  like  Bishop  Ingle  he  pos 
sessed  a  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  Chinese 
language  and  has  thus  been  able  to  come  in  close 
touch  with  the  Chinese  workers. 

Consecration  of  Bishop  Roots.  The  Bishop-elect 
was  home  on  furlough  when  his  election  occurred 
in  October  1894  and  he  was  consecrated  on  the 
fourteenth  of  the  following  month  in  Emmanuel 
Church,  Boston,  Massachusetts.  The  day  was 
memorable  as  being  the  day  on  which  the  first 
American  Bishop,  Dr.  Seabury,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  previously,  was  consecrated  in  Aber 
deen,  Scotland.  Bishop  Graves  of  Shanghai  was 
again  the  consecrator  with  Bishops  McKim  of 
Tokyo  and  McVickar  of  Rhode  Island  as  co-con- 
secrators.  Bishop  Lawrence  of  Massachusetts  and 
Bishop  Partridge  of  Kyoto  were  the  presentors  and 
the  sermon  was  preached  by  Bishop  Lawrence. 

A  Big  Diocese.  "It  is  no  small  thing  to  be  the 
bishop  of  a  mission  to  one  hundred  millions  of 
souls/'  wrote  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mosher,  one  of  the 
attending  presbyters  at  the  consecration,  especi 
ally  if  the  force  of  workers  is  too  small  to  do  more 


A  Time  of  Harvest  271 

than  touch  the  fringe  of  the  work.  Nor  is  it  a 
small  thing  to  be  sent  in  succession  to  that  truly 
wonderful  man,  the  late  Bishop  Ingle.  But  those 
who  know  the  new  Bishop  of  Hankow  have  no 
fear  for  the  future  of  the  Church  there." 

Bishop  Roots  was  thus  thoroughly  conversant 
and  in  sympathy  with  Bishop  Ingle's  plans — and 
with  consecrated  powers  of  leadership  and  wide 
sympathies  he  has  set  himself  resolutely  to  his  great 
task.  Again  the  thrill  of  enthusiasm  ran  along  the 
line  of  workers  and  with  new  buoyancy  and  deter 
mination  which  the  Bishop  everywhere  inspired 
they  came  up  loyally  and  heartily  to  his  support. 

A  New  Start  for  Wuhu.  Under  the  steady  and 
faithful  efforts  of  the  workers  at  Wuhu  the  work 
at  this  station  and  outstations  connected  with  it 
had  been  growing  in  a  very  encouraging  way.  But 
the  more  it  grew  the  more  were  the  workers 
oppressed  by  the  narrrow  confines  of  the  little 
Chinese  dwelling  that  served  for  the  Church  home. 
On  Christmas  Day  1903  the  hearts  of  the  congre 
gation  in  Wuhu  were  made  very  happy  by  the  gift 
in  the  Alms  basin  of  a  cheque  for  $5,600,  from  a 
friend  of  the  China  Mission  in  America,  a  member 
of  the  congregation  of  St.  James'  Church,  New 
York  City.  After  nearly  twenty  years  of  strug 
gling,  this  important  city  on  the  Yangtse,  one  of  the 
most  important  in  all  China — was  to  be  equipped 
with  a  Church  and  necessary  mission  buildings. 
We  can  well  imagine  the  rejoicing  in  that  congre 
gation  in  the  dark  old  Chinese  dwelling  that  morn- 


272         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

ing.  Soon  now  there  would  arise  in  Wuhu  a  home 
for  the  Church  that  would  not  only  provide  for  its 
growing  work  but  be  a  constant,  impressive,  visible 
witness  among  the  heathen  of  the  one  true  God. 
It  was  the  happiest  Christmas  service  Wuhu 
ever  had. 

"When  the  Lord  turned  again  the  captivity  of 
Sion  then  were  we  like  unto  them  that  dream. 

"Then  was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter  and  our 
tongue  with  joy. 

"Then  said  they  among  the  heathen,  the  Lord 
hath  done  great  things  for  them." 

The  New  Church.  At  Wuhu  on  May  3rd,  1905, 
St.  James'  Church  was  consecrated.  A  memorial 
tablet  near  the  Altar  explains  the  gift  to  the 
daughter  Church  in  China: 

To  the  glory  of  God, 

and  in  loving  memory  of 

Edward  Walpole  Warren,   D.  D. 

Rector  of  St.  James'  Church,  New  York  City. 

Christmas,  1903. 

The  gift  also  provided  for  the  erection  of  a  build 
ing  for  the  boarding  school  and  rooms  for  an  un 
married  foreign  missionary. 

The  Sunday  School  of  St.  James*  Church,  New 
York  City,  gave  the  bell  for  the  new  church. 
The  members  of  the  Church  in  Wuhu  also  came 
forward  to  help.  One  of  the  members  gave  money 
for  a  church  organ  and  others  provided  the  baptis 
mal  font.  A  lady  in  Denmark,  out  of  gratitude  for 


A  Time  of  Harvest  273 

kindness  done  to  her  son  who  had  been  in  the 
Customs  service  in  China,  gave  the  furnishings  for 
one  of  the  school  rooms.  Later  through  the  gener 
ous  gifts  of  the  same  donor  who  gave  the  Church, 
and  others,  the  Wuhu  compound  has  been  en 
larged  and  on  a  hill  outside  the  city  a  splendid 
building  for  a  boys  large  boarding  school  has  been 
erected,  thus  making  Wuhu  one  of  the  efficient 
strong  centers  of  mission  activity. 

What  Might  Be  Done.  We  have  dwelt  at  some 
length  on  the  equipment  of  Wuhu  as  an  example 
of  what  a  comparatively  small  sum  of  money 
wisely  invested  for  Christ  will  accomplish  in  China. 
What  has  been  done  in  Wuhu  might  be  done,  nay 
should  be  done  for  Kuikiang,  Shasi,  Nanchang  and 
Changsha  and  other  places  where  the  Church  has 
been  well  and  long  established,  but  in  temporary 
and  makeshift  quarters,  and  still  needing  material 
help  for  the  more  rapid  accomplishment  of  its  work. 

Not  Pauperizing  the  Chinese  Church.  It  does 
not  mean  that  we  are  making  the  Chinese  Church 
dependent  on  the  foreigner.  Most  of  our  congre 
gations  are  poor,  very  poor.  All  the  contributions 
they  can  give  are  needed  for  the  support  of  the 
work.  In  small  country  stations  where  land  is 
much  cheaper  they  are  sometimes  able  to  give  and 
do  give,  land  and  buildings  for  the  work — but  in  the 
great  cities  where  the  work  must  be  most  aggres 
sive  they  are  not  strong  enough  to  provide  for  the 
big  campaign  before  the  Church. 

Wuhu's  Mission  Work.     At  the  time  of  the  gift 


274         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

to  Wuhu  the  congregation  was  already  doing  mis 
sion  work  of  its  own.  For  a  year  it  had  supported 
a  catechist  in  Lukang,  a  neighboring  town.  In  Nan- 
ling,  another  outstation,  there  was  a  roomy  com 
pound,  a  catechist's  house  and  a  chapel,  worth  in 
all  about  $900,  more  than  half  of  which  sum  had 
been  given  by  native  Christians.  The  time  is  com 
ing  when  the  money  that  has  been  spent  on  temples 
and  idols,  on  processions  and  ancestor  worship  will 
be  spent  in  work  to  make  the  Father  known.  But 
until  it  is  and  in  order  that  it  may  be,  we  who  have 
experienced  His  love  must  pass  on  the  means  to 
others,  as  others  have  passed  on  to  us,  of  bringing 
the  knowledge  of  Him  to  those  to  whom  He  is  new 
not  even  a  name. 

Outlook  for  Self-Support.  The  outlook  for  self- 
support  on  the  whole  is  an  encouraging  one.  It  is 
one  that  the  foreign  missionary  has  ever  in  Ids 
heart  and  for  which  he  constantly  works.  In  the 
old  days  no  money  was  asked  from  enquirers  lest 
they  should  think  that  the  Church's  Mission  was 
what  many  of  the  heathen  suspected  it  of  being, 
a  means  of  the  foreigner  for  making  money.  Tea 
and  the  inevitable  Chinese  water  tobacco  pipe  were 
also  furnished  in  the  mission  guest  halls  where  en 
quirers  were  brought.  This  has  been  gradually 
changed  and  the  Christian  taught  that  giving,  even 
out  of  their  often-times  deep  poverty,  is  an  indis 
pensable  part  of  worship.  At  a  conference  of 
the  Shanghai  district  in  1905  it  was  decided 
that  new  stations  in  the  future  should  pay  the 


A  Time  of  Harvest  275 

charges  for  rent  and  general  expenses.  For  the 
older  stations  a  graduated  scheme  toward  self- 
support  was  drawn  up  by  the  Chinese  and  foreign 
workers — though  the  order  was  suggested  by  the 
Chinese.  First  the  station  is  required  to  pay  the 
sundry  running  expenses,  then  the  wages  of  sexton 
or  caretaker,  then  the  salary  of  Bible-woman,  next 
the  salary  of  catechist,  then  rent,  repairs,  etc.,  and 
then  the  salary  of  the  Chinese  clergyman,  first  one 
half  and  then  the  whole.  Similar  steps  were  taken 
in  the  Hankow  district.  As  an  incentive  toward 
self-support  the  ability  to  vote  in  convention  or 
synod  was  made  to  depend  upon  the  congregation 
represented  having  reached  a  certain  stage  of  self- 
support. 

Progress  In  Last  Few  Years.  The  last  few  years 
have  witnessed  considerable  advance  toward  self- 
support.  The  cathedral  congregation  in  Hankow, 
which  numbers  among  its  members  several  Boone 
College  graduates  in  good  business  positions,  is 
a  strong  parish  and  was  approaching  self-support 
when  the  Revolution  broke  out  in  1911  and  a 
large  part  of  the  city  was  burned.  The  con 
gregation  at  the  Church  of  our  Saviour,  Shanghai, 
which  also  numbers  among  its  members  young 
people  whom  the  Church  has  educated  and  trained, 
has  been  self-supporting  for  some  years.  In  addi 
tion  it  built  in  1911 — at  an  expense  of  over  $7,000 
Mex.,  a  new  parish  building  called  the  Wong  Me 
morial  Hall.  This  is  in  memory  of  the  first  convert 
of  the  China  Mission  and  the  first  pastor  of  this 


276         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Church.  There  have  also  been  many  and  large 
Chinese  gifts  for  St.  John's  University,  Boone  Uni 
versity,  and  for  our  hospitals  in  China.  These, 
however,  have  often  been  from  non-Christians  who 
have  seen  so  far  the  value  of  the  Church's  educa 
tional  and  healing  work  only  and  so  is  a  different 
question  from  that  of  self-support  on  the  part  of  the 
native  Christians. 

The  New  Conditions.  Under  the  more  prosper 
ous  conditions  and  the  development  of  China  under 
the  progressiveness  of  the  new  form  of  government, 
when  it  is  firmly  established,  we  may  expect  to  see 
a  quicker  coming  of  self-support.  We  have  seen  that 
self-support  has  come  most  rapidly  in  the  foreign 
settlements  in  Shanghai  and  Hankow.  It  has  been 
so  also  in  the  Church  of  England  Missions  in  Hong- 
Kong.  Chinese  Christians  who  have  been  engaged 
in  business  there  have  shared  in  the  security  and 
general  business  prosperity  of  these  communities. 
As  these  conditions  spread  more  rapidly  in  China 
we  may  expect  to  see  similar  results.  Another  hope 
ful  sign  is  that  our  Mission  schools  are  sending 
forth  every  year  greater  numbers  of  efficient  and 
qualified  Christian  men  whose  ability  and  training 
are  giving  them  positions  as  influential  laymen.  It 
marks  the  incoming  into  our  churches  of  a  new, 
progressive  and  prosperous  membership  in  the 
larger  and  old  established  centers  of  Mission  work. 

A  Notable  Gift  at  Han  Yang.  During  the  last 
year  of  Bishop  Ingle's  life  one  of  the  Christians  in 
Hankow  by  the  name  of  Hsia  presented  to  the  Mis- 


A  Time  of  Harvest  277 

sion  the  deeds  for  three  pieces  of  property.  Before 
his  conversion  he  had  been  such  a  profligate  that  his 
mother  had  hidden  the  deeds,  left  by  the  father, 
away  from  the  son  lest  the  property  should  be 
spent  in  riotous  living.  At  his  conversion  the 
chagrin  and  dismay  of  the  family  were  much  in 
creased.  He  had  been  bad  enough  before,  but  now 
he  was  a  Christian.  What  worse  calamity  could 
happen  to  the  family?  The  mother  literally  barred 
her  door  against  the  entrance  of  the  missionary  into 
her  house.  Gradually,  however,  they  noticed  a 
great  change  in  the  dissolute  son, — his  evil  habits 
disappeared  and  be  became  an  honored  member  of 
the  community.  Then  it  was  that  the  mother 
brought  forth  the  deeds  and  presented  them  to  the 
son.  He  in  his  turn  presented  them  to  the  Church. 
On  one  of  the  three  lots  thus  given  the  native 
buildings  were  remodelled  for  a  chapel  and  school 
rooms.  The  other  two  pieces  were  leased  and  the 
income  used  for  the  support  of  the  mission;  but 
best  of  all,  following  the  example  of  the  first  con 
vert,  other  members  of  the  family  have  since  been 
presented  for  Baptism. 

The  Growth  of  Boone  University.  The  last  few 
years  have  seen  a  rapid  development  in  Boone.  In 
1905,  it  was  acknowledged  to  be,  after  thirty  years 
of  experience,  the  best  high  school  and  college  amid 
a  population  of  one  hundred  million  people.  In  the 
face  of  opposition  and  prejudice  it  had  steadily  gone 
on  its  way,  improving  year  by  year.  At  the  be 
ginning  pupils  were  paid  to  enter  the  school.  In 


278         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

1905  it  had  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  and  its  fees 
amounted  to  over  $5,000.  Its  position  and  oppor 
tunity  to  influence  Central  China  were  unique. 

The  well-known  missionary  veteran  ex-President  of 
the  Pekin  University,  wrote  a  "Farewell  to  Wuchang" 
which  appeared  in  the  North  China  Daily  News 
in  1905.  After  speaking  of  the  high  aims  of  the  Vice 
roy  he  concluded :  "Much  as  China's  statesmen  may 
accomplish  their  efforts  will  be  incomplete  without 
the  confirmation  of  missionaries.  In  the  Boone 
School  the  Viceroy  has  a  fine  model  for  his  colleges 
and  higher  schools." 

Ingle   Hall.     With   the   growth   of   the   upriver 

work  it  was  inevitable  that  Boone  School  should 
develop  into  Boone  College.  St.  John's  College,  six 
hundred  miles  away,  was  too  far  to  send  the  Han 
kow  students  of  the  Mission  and  the  increasing 
number  of  Christian  students  who  were  ready  for 
a  higher  education  in  the  vicinity  could  not  go  so 
far  in  order  to  attend  college.  If  a  college  educa 
tion  under  the  Christian  influences  of  this  Mission 
was  to  be  provided  for  them  it  must  be  in 
Central  China.  Bishop  Ingle  saw  this  greater 
opportunity  that  had  opened  before  the  Church 
and  sanctioned  the  addition  of  a  college  course 
in  1902.  Among  his  last  appeals  was  one  for 
a  college  building.  After  his  death,  from  his 
many  friends  and  admirers,  far  and  wide,  came 
in  the  gifts  for  Ingle  Hall  and  it  was  erected  as  his 
memorial,  being  opened  in  1907. 


A  Time  of  Harvest  279 

First  College  Graduates.  In  the  meantime  the 
first  college  class  consisting  of  seven  members  had 
graduated  in  January,  1906.  The  personnel  of  this 
class  is  interesting  and  was  most  encouraging  to 
the  missionaries  for  it  proved  that  the  longer  stu 
dents  remained  in  Mission  institutions  the  more 
likely  they  were  to  remain  as  workers  and  helpers 
in  Christian  work.  It  had  been  a  cause  of  great 
anxiety  to  the  missionaries  to  see  the  students  after 
finishing  their  school  course  hurrying  off  to  posi 
tions  in  postal  or  customs  employ  or  to  business 
positions.  There  had  been  no  Divinity  class  for 
several  years.  The  outlook  for  the  future  of  the  na 
tive  Church  was  not  bright  in  the  years  from  1899 
to  1905  in  the  Hankow  district.  But  with  the 
founding  of  the  college  course  the  outlook  changed. 
The  students  who  remained  for  it  became  more 
matured,  more  thoughtful,  more  ready  and  able  to 
respond  to  high  ideals.  Three  of  the  first  class  to 
graduate  from  the  college  entered  the  Divinity 
School  immediately.  Three  stayed  in  the  college  as 
teachers  and  another  accepted  a  position  as  private 
secretary  to  one  of  the  officers  in  the  school.  Thus 
all  remained  to  help  the  Mission  in  the  face  of 
inviting  business  prospects  outside.  Best  of  all, 
all  but  one  were  Christians,  and  he  was  so  by  con 
viction  and  prevented  only  by  his  parents  from 
being  baptized.  Four  were  from  Christian  homes, 
but  two  presented  themselves  for  Baptism  just 
before  commencement. 

Effect  of  the  College  Course.     From  that  day  to 


280         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

this  the  Divinity  School  in  Wuchang  has  not  been 
closed.  There  has  been  a  small  but  steady  stream 
of  well  educated  young  men  of  resolute  purpose 
and  high  ideals  who  have  given  themselves  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  To  this  end  the  strong 
spiritual  influence  of  the  Rector,  Rev.  James  Jack 
son,  D.D.,  and  his  corps  of  helpers  have  contributed 
in  a  high  degree. 

A  Viceroy's  Changed  Attitude.  It  has  been  noted 
before  in  these  pages  how  in  the  rectorship  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Partridge1  Chang  Tze  Tung  desired  to 
send  his  son  to  Boone  School  and  offered  to  give  a 
dormitory  to  the  institution  if  he  could  be  exempt 
from  Christian  worship  and  Christian  instruction. 
In  1906  the  same  Viceroy  asked  permission  to  send 
four  of  his  young  relatives  to  Boone  College  with 
the  understanding  that  they  v/ere  to  have  the  full 
course  of  Christian  teaching. 

A  Significant  Request.  Another  evidence  of  the 
place  the  Mission  had  come  to  occupy  in  the  com 
munity  was  given  when  in  the  same  year  a  number 
of  Chinese  officials  in  Wuchang  made  the  request 
to  Bishop  Roots  that  he  establish  a  school  for  girls 
to  which  they  might  send  their  daughters.  There 
had  been  a  government  institution  opened  for  girls 
and  at  first  the  Mandarins'  daughters  had  gone  to 
one  of  these.  But  feeling  the  moral  atmosphere  to 
be  unwholesome  these  officials  desired  to  withdraw 
their  daughters  and  entrust  them  to  the  Mission. 
St.  Hilda's  School  and  its  graduates  were  living 

1  Now  Bishop  of  West  Missouri. 


A  Time  of  Harvest  281 

witnesses  to  the  quality  of  Mission  work.  They 
therefore  promised  that  if  Bishop  Roots  would  open 
such  a  select  school  they  would  bear  the  expense  of 
it.  It  was  seen  immediately  that  this  would  be  an 
effective  way  of  reaching  a  class  to  which  there  had 
been  no  entree  before  and  accordingly  St.  Margaret's 
School  was  instituted.  It  was  first  in  charge  of 
Mrs.  Jackson,  the  wife  of  the  Rector  of  Boone 
School,  and  later  under  Miss  Byerly  continued 
right  up  to  the  Revolution  when  such  a  special 
school  for  the  daughters  of  Imperial  officials,  many 
of  them  Manchus,  became  no  longer  necessary. 

St.  Hilda's  School.  Seven  years  of  faithful  hard 
work  on  the  part  of  Miss  Pauline  Osgood,  the  prin 
cipal,  had  raised  St.  Hilda's  to  a  position  of  wide 
usefulness  and  it  had  become  now  one  of  the  most 
valuable  mission  institutions  for  the  upriver  dis 
trict.  In  1906,  it  had  the  largest  number  of  pupils 
in  its  history  and  its  fame  and  influence  were  stead 
ily  growing.  A  desire  for  the  education  of  their 
daughters  as  well  as  for  their  sons  was  beginning 
to  make  itself  felt  and  was  another  striking  evidence 
of  the  change  that  was  passing  over  the  old  Empire. 

The  Day  Schools.  In  both  districts  we  note  an 
advance  in  the  efficiency  of  the  day  schools.  In 
Shanghai,  Miss  Richmond,  a  teacher  of  experience, 
was  made  school  superintendent  and  the  wisdom  of 
having  a  trained  worker  in  sole  charge  of  this  work 
was  soon  apparent.  Among  other  advantages  the 
number  of  pupils  more  than  doubled  in  a  year.  The 
new  type  of  day  school  which  taught  Chinese  by 


282         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Western  methods  has  now  in  all  the  missionary 
districts  taken  the  place  of  the  old  fashioned  Chinese 
school  where  the  pupils  studied  aloud  at  the  top  of 
their  voices  and  learned  only  to  memorize,  without 
understanding,  the  elegant  phrases  of  the  Chinese 
classics. 

Normal  School.  This  change  was  made  possible 
by  the  fact  that  now  for  the  first  time  the  Mission 
was  producing  trained  teachers.  The  normal  class, 
started  by  Bishop  Ingle,  had  developed  into  a  nor 
mal  school  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Huntington 
in  Ichang.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  in  securing  a 
teaching  staff  for  this  work,  after  the  graduation  of 
the  first  class  of  teachers  the  Mission  decided  to  co 
operate  with  another  Mission  in  this  department. 
The  Wesleyan  Mission  in  Wuchang  possessed  an 
excellent  normal  school  and  they  kindly  consented 
to  receive  and  train  our  teachers.  The  work  has 
been  so  well  done  and  has  been  so  free  from  prac 
tical  objections  that  Bishop  Roots  has  continued 
this  scheme  of  union  educational  work  in  this 
department. 

The  Chinese  Churchman.  The  establishment  in 
1905  of  The  Chinese  Churchman,  a  monthly  paper 
in  Chinese,  marked  a  step  forward  in  Church  life 
in  China.  The  paper  was  started  by  the  Shanghai 
District  and  the  Hankow  District  soon  joined  it. 
The  paper  has  done  much  to  spread  information, 
especially  on  Church  topics,  to  the  congregations 
in  China  and  has  helped  to  bring  them  into  closer 
relations. 


A  Time  of  Harvest  283 

Contact  with  Japan.  After  the  war  between 
Russia  and  Japan  in  1904-1905  and  the  victory  of 
Japan,  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  were  focussed  on 
Japan  and  the  impetus  toward  Western  learning 
was  much  quickened.  It  was  seen  that  Japan's 
power  had  been  acquired  by  learning  from  the 
Western  world.  Therefore  to  acquire  Western 
learning  the  easiest  and  quickest  way  seemed  to  be 
to  go  to  Japan  to  study.  Students,  many  of  them 
supported  by  the  government,  began  flocking  to 
Japan  in  great  numbers.  At  one  time  it  was  esti 
mated  that  there  were  fifteen  thousand  Chinese 
students  in  Tokyo.  It  was  a  time  of  great  peril  and 
great  opportunity; — of  peril  because  these  students 
so  crowded  in  a  foreign  city  were  not  only  exposed 
to  great  temptations  to  immorality  but  were  also 
in  danger  of  absorbing  the  anti-Christian  material 
ism  that  pervaded  the  Japanese  students ;  of  oppor 
tunity  because  here  were  many  of  the  future  leaders 
of  China  grouped  together,  and  an  unusual  possi 
bility  of  reaching  them  thus  presented  itself.  Mis 
sionaries  were  sent  over  from  China  to  work  among 
these  students  and  the  Bishop  of  Tokyo  started  a 
school  for  Chinese  students.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hu  of 
Wuchang  was  sent  by  Bishop  Roots  to  help  in  this 
most  new  and  difficult  work  and  he  remained  there 
for  a  year  and  a  half. 

Lengthening  the  Cords:  Nanchang.  In  the  fall 
of  1906  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Kiangsi 
was  occupied  by  the  Mission.  It  was  the  last  of 
the  provincial  capitals  in  the  Central  China  dis- 


284         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

trict  to  be  so  occupied.  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Yu,  a 
priest  from  the  city  of  Hankow,  together  with  a 
young  man  just  graduated  from  the  Hankow  Train 
ing  School  for  Catechists,  belong  the  honor  of 
starting  the  Mission  work  in  this  important  center. 
The  progress  here  has  been  encouraging,  but  now 
after  seven  years  of  occupancy  the  station  is  still 
housed  in  rented  quarters. 

Han  Tsuan  and  New  Outstations.  One  of  the  most 
notable  gifts  to  the  evangelistic  work  in  1906  was  a 
church  building  for  the  congregation  in  Han  Tsuan. 
This  gift  of  a  communicant  in  Yonkers,  New  York, 
was  the  cause  of  great  rejoicing  in  the  district  of 
which  the  city  is  the  center.  In  addition  to  the 
equipment  of  this  station  the  opening  of  five  new 
stations  in  the  Hankow  district  were  noted  by 
Bishop  Roots  in  his  report  for  1906.  An  important 
section  had  been  opened  up  in  a  district  near  Han 
kow  city,  called  Hwangpi.  This  work  witnessed 
a  strong  growth  and  development  after  the  opening 
of  the  Hankow-Pekin  railroad  which  ran  through 
it.  Altogether  in  the  two  districts  there  were  eighty 
stations  in  operation  in  1906. 

Tsingpoo  District.  Another  very  encouraging  work 
was  in  progress  in  the  Tsingpoo  district  in  the 
Shanghai  jurisdiction.  It  was  started  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Rees  in  1902.  From  that  time  it  had  developed 
until  in  1912  there  were  seven  outstations  connected 
with  it.  The  early  days  of  this  work  are  associated 
with  the  name  of  Miss  Porter,  who  lived  for  some 
years  alone  and  carried  on  a  splendid  work  for 


A  Time  of  Harvest  285 

women  and  children.    Land  for  a  church  was  given 
here  by  the  native  Christians. 

Death  of  Bishop  Schereschewsky.  In  1881,  Bishop 
Schereschewsky  was  stricken  with  a  disease  which 
brought  on  an  almost  complete  paralysis  and  since 
that  date  had  withdrawn  from  almost  all  the  Mis 
sion  activities.  Almost,  but  not  all,  and  that  ex 
ception  was,  as  we  have  seen  before  in  these  pages, 
a  most  important  one.  For  over  twenty  years  he 
labored  at  translation  work,  turning  the  Scriptures 
into  the  language  of  one-third  of  the  population  of 
the  globe.  Few  achievements  in  the  cause  of  Mis 
sions  have  been  greater  than  those  accomplished 
by  this  patient-hearted,  undaunted  sufferer.  On 
October  15,  1906,  the  great  missionary  hero  and 
scholar  was  called  to  his  rest  from  his  home  in 
Tokyo,  Japan. 

St.  John's  College  Incorporated  as  a  University. 
The  incorporation  of  St.  John's  College  as  a  uni 
versity,  besides  securing  the  recognition  of  the 
Chinese  government  and  the  right  to  bestow  de 
grees,  gave  to  St.  John's  a  valuable  prestige  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world's  great  institutions  of  learning, 
and  did  much  to  increase  its  growing  popularity. 
"Yale  agreed  to  receive  the  graduates  of  St.  John's 
for  study,  leading  up  to  the  degrees  of  M.  A. 
and  Ph.  D.  and  to  allow  them  to  enter  the  schools 
of  law  and  medicine  without  examination.  Har 
vard,  Columbia,  Cornell,  Michigan,  Chicago  and 
Pennsylvania  agreed  to  give  St.  John's  students 
credit  for  all  they  had  done  and  to  admit  them  to 


286         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

higher  standing  in  undergraduate  courses."  Thus 
St.  John's  entered  upon  another  and  higher  sphere 
of  usefulness.  The  diplomas  conferring  the  degree 
of  B.  A.  upon  a  number  of  graduates  were  given  in 
January,  1907. 

First  Graduates  from  the  Training  School  for 
Bible  Women,  Hankow.  Early  in  1906  the  first 
class  of  women  to  receive  full  training  as  Bible 
women  in  the  District  of  Hankow  graduated.  Out 
of  a  group  of  ten  who  had  entered  two  years  be 
fore  six  finished  the  course.  It  had  not  been  an  easy 
undertaking.  Several  could  not  read  a  word  when 
they  entered  the  school,  and  none  of  them  could 
write,  and  all  were  well  past  their  youth.  The  work 
of  taking  this  unpromising  material  and  teaching 
them  to  read  and  write,  the  Life  of  Christ,  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  an  outline  of  the  Old  Testament, 
the  Catechism,  the  intelligent  use  of  the  Prayer 
Book  and  the  art  of  expounding  Scriptures  in  a 
simple  way  in  two  years  was  not  an  easy  one. 

A  Bible  Woman's  Duties.  The  expression  in 
Chinese  which  we  translate  "Bible  Woman"  is 
"female  teacher  of  the  Church."  Her  work  is 
teaching  the  women  as  a  catechist  teaches  the  men, 
although  her  work  is  done  mostly  in  the  home. 
Both  are  assistants  to  the  native  pastor  and  the 
Bible  woman  works  usually  under  the  direction  of 
the  foreign  lady  missionary.  Some  of  them  act  as 
matrons  in  our  hospitals  where  they  teach  the 
truths  of  Christianity  to  the  crowds  in  the  dispen 
sary  as  well  as  to  the  in-patients.  Others  serve  as 


A  Time  of  Harvest  287 

matrons  in  the  girls'  schools  where  they  give  re 
ligious  instruction  to  the  girls  and  act  as  their 
general  friend  and  monitor.  In  fact  they  are  used 
in  every  way  in  which  a  woman  only  can  be  used 
to  spread  the  Truth  in  a  land  where  the  lives  of 
women  and  men  are  so  separate  as  they  are  in 
China. 

Difficulties  of  a  Bible  Woman's  Work.  Few  un 
derstand  the  peculiar  difficulties  that  meet  the  natur 
ally  timid  and  retiring  Chinese  woman  when  she 
first  faces  such  public  duties.  After  a  sheltered  life 
in  the  seclusion  of  a  Chinese  home  the  Bible 
woman  goes  forth  to  live  among  strangers  where 
the  conditions  of  her  life  often  cause  wonder  and 
comment  to  the  heathen.  Mrs.  Sung,  a  Bible 
woman  in  the  Shanghai  district,  thus  describes  the 
situation:  "To  gain  an  entrance  into  a  Chinese 
home  is  no  easy  matter,  especially  inland.  These 
difficulties  apply  especially  to  the  outstations  or 
new  places,  not  to  Shanghai,  where  the  custom  of 
visiting  has  been  established  several  tens  of  years. 
No  Chinese  woman  who  considers  herself  a  lady 
will  go  to  a  house  without  an  invitation,  hence 
though  you  have  the  best  of  intentions,  should  you 
go  as  a  stranger,  you  will  be  looked  down  upon.  A 
woman  who  is  unknown  is  sure  to  be  misunder 
stood  by  the  non-Christians,  for  they  cannot  un 
derstand  why  she  has  come.  They  know  that  she 
has  been  sent  by  foreigners,  but  they  do  not  know 
whether  they  are  to  be  harmed  or  benefited  by  these 
visits;  so  she  sometimes  receives  a  very  cool  re- 


288         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

ception,  or  sometimes  the  people  laugh  at  her. 
After  you  have  been  invited  into  the  house  and 
you  think  you  can  begin  work  in  earnest  you  find 
an  entirely  new  set  of  difficulties,  for  while  the  wife 
is  delighted  to  see  you  the  husband  or  mother-in- 
law  may  object,  or  may  fear  a  neighbor's  ridicule. 
"How  are  we  to  overcome  these  difficulties?  One 
way  is  to  establish  schools  and  then  visit  the  par 
ents,  brothers  and  sisters  of  your  pupils;  invite 
them  to  see  you  and  ask  them  to  bring  their  neigh 
bors  and  friends.  *  *  *  I  feel  encouraged  to  perse 
vere  and  save  others  from  a  fate  Providence  has 
allowed  me  to  escape ;  and  so  I  repeat  that  courage, 
patience  and  earnestness  will  overcome  all  the  diffi 
culties  which  hinder  us  in  the  work  of  bringing  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  to  the  heathen  women  of 
China." 


NEW  VENTURES  OF  FAITH 
1907-1909 


CHAPTER   XIII 

NEW  VENTURES  OF  FAITH 

1907-1909 

Quiet  Steady  Growth.  The  last  few  years  have 
been  years  of  quiet,  steady  and  rapid  growth  in  the 
China  Mission.  Obstacles  have  continued  but  in 
spite  of  them  the  work  has  pushed  forward  tinder 
wise  and  energetic  leadership.  The  chief  obstacle 
has  been  the  lack  of  a  sufficiently  large  foreign  staff 
to  use  the  opening  opportunities.  "The  future  de 
velopment  of  our  work  will  depend  for  years  to 
come,"  wrote  Bishop  Roots  in  1907,  "for  its  solidity 
upon  the  guidance  of  a  strong  staff  of  foreigners." 
Again  and  again  ill-health  has  caused  the  temporary 
or  permanent  withdrawal  of  some  trained  worker, 
and  the  work  has  suffered  accordingly. 

Restraining  Workers.  One  of  the  greatest 
anxieties  of  a  missionary  bishop  is  the  care  of  the 
health  of  his  workers.  He  finds  it  necessary  more 
cften  to  restrain  than  to  urge  them  on.  "In  our 
prayers  for  missionaries/'  Bishop  Roots  reported  in 
1906,  speaking  of  the  illness  of  a  member  of  the 
staff,  "I  think  this  one — that  the  missionaries  may 
take  all  due  care  of  their  health,  in  order  to  attain  the 

291 


292         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

most  far-reaching  usefulness,  restraining  their  zeal 
within  the  limits  of  their  strength — should  take  a 
prominent  place.  For  such  men  and  women  as  the 
Church  has  sent  into  this  China  Mission,  there  is 
small  danger  of  indulging  in  slack  work  or  any 
kind  of  slothfulness.  The  chief  dangers  are  those 
arising  out  of  the  destitution  and  unlimited  oppor 
tunities  for  usefulness  with  which  we  are  sur 
rounded,  and  which  tempt  us  to  neglect  the  care 
of  our  own  health,  physical,  intellectual  or  spiritual. 
The  spirit  of  'a  sound  mind'  is  necessary  to  resist 
these  temptations." 

The  School  for  Beggar  Boys.  Perhaps  the  most 
unusual  new  work  has  been  the  Trade  School 
opened  for  beggar  boys  in  Ichang  by  the  Rev.  D.  T. 
Huntington  in  1907.  Mr.  Huntington  had  been 
greatly  impressed  with  the  number  of  homeless 
and  destitute  boys  in  the  streets  of  Ichang  who 
were  perishing  from  neglect  and  starvation.  Ichang 
is  the  terminus  for  the  junks  coming  down  the 
Yangtse  gorges  from  the  province  of  Szechuen. 
Boys  from  this  latter  province  are  picked  up  by  the 
junk  owners  to  help  bring  the  boats  through  the 
rapids  for  small  pay.  On  the  return  trip  against 
the  rapids  the  work  is  too  hard  for  the  boys  and 
they  are  cast  aside  in  the  streets  of  Ichang  several 
weeks'  journey  from  home,  and  there,  shelterless  and 
without  any  knowledge  of  any  trade  whatever,  are 
left  to  beg. 

In  the  hope  of  rescuing  some  of  this  pitiable  class 
of  boys  and  training  them  to  become  useful  citizens, 


New  Ventures  of  Faith  293 

Mr.  Huntington  opened  a  trade  school.  The  work 
soon  passed  the  experimental  stage  and,  in  its  happy 
busy  atmosphere,  in  1911  one  hundred  and  sixty 
boys  were  learning  carpentry,  brass-work,  shoe- 
making,  tailoring,  barbering  and  other  trades. 
Here  the  boys  make  their  own  shoes  and  clothes, 
raise  vegetables  and  pigs.  Three  hours  a  day  are 
spent  in  school.  Care  is  taken  to  see  that  their 
simple  style  of  living  may  not  unfit  them  for  the 
Chinese  artisan  life  for  which  they  are  preparing. 
In  1910,  a  group  of  buildings  consisting  of  dormi 
tories,  work-shop,  refectory,  infirmary  and  a  dwell 
ing  for  the  foreign  missionary  in  charge  was  erected 
at  a  cost  of  about  $13,000  (U.  S.  currency)  largely 
provided  by  the  Christian  Herald  Orphanage  Fund, 
which  also  supported  a  majority  of  the  destitute 
boys. 

The  Ichang  Lace  Work.  Another  interesting 
industrial  work  organized  in  Ichang  shortly  before 
the  Trades  School  was  the  lace  making  industry 
started  for  women  and  girls  by  Miss  Maria  Hunt 
ington,  the  aunt  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Huntington.  This 
work  was  opened  as  a  means  of  attracting  women 
to  the  Church  and  bringing  them  within  the  hear 
ing  of  the  Gospel  Message.  The  results  were  soon 
evidenced  in  the  greatly  increased  numbers  at  the 
"woman's  meetings"  and  at  the  Church  service. 
The  women  readily  learned  to  make  beautiful  Euro 
pean  laces.  Under  Miss  Huntington's  successors  this 
branch  of  mission  activity  has  developed  into  a 
profitable  industry.  It  has  not  only  accomplished 


294         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

its  original  purpose  of  bringing  a  large  number  of 
women  into  the  Church  but  has  provided  them  with 
a  respectable  and  agreeable  means  of  livelihood,  and 
helps  largely  in  the  support  of  the  boys'  trade 
school. 

Expansion  in  Evangelistic  Work.  Everywhere 
the  evangelistic  work  has  been  expanding  in  the 
last  few  years.  The  changing  attitude  of  the 
Chinese  people  and  the  opening  of  railroads  have 
made  the  opportunities  innumerable.  The  steady 
supply  of  the  training  schools  for  catechists  in  Han 
kow  and  later  in  Wusih  have  furnished  an  increas 
ing  number  of  better  qualified  lay  workers  to  ex 
tend  the  work.  The  young  graduates  from  the  two 
Divinity  Schools  have  proven  themselves  earnest, 
consecrated  and  efficient  and  their  accession  to  the 
ranks  of  the  ministry  has  made  it  possible  to  re 
lease  some  of  the  older  native  priests  for  the  open 
ing  and  oversight  of  new  stations.  These  favor 
able  conditions  have  made  possible  a  notable  in 
crease  in  the  number  of  outstations  in  all  three  of 
the  present  missionary  jurisdictions,  and  have  been 
a  great  cause  of  rejoicing  and  hopefulness.  Especi 
ally  has  the  advance  been  marked  since  1907.  On 
all  sides  splendid  opportunities  have  opened  and  in 
as  many  places  as  possible  have  been  seized, — the 
only  reason  for  not  occupying  even  a  greater 
number  of  outstations  than  have  been  occupied  has 
been  lack  of  workers  and  funds.  Again  and  again 
the  missionaries  themselves  have  provided  the 
funds  for  the  opening  of  new  stations  rather  than 


THE  SCHOOL  CHAPEL,  AN  KING 
ST.  JOHN'S   PRO-CATHEDRAL,   SHANGHAI 


New  Ventures  of  Faith  295 

lose  the  opportunity  in  some  new  and  promising 
place. 

And  Some  a  Hundredfold.  The  story  of  the 
growth  of  the  work  at  Anking  since  1900  is  not 
only  an  evidence  of  faithful  hard  work  on  the  part 
of  the  missionaries  but  an  encouraging  example  of 
what  might  be  done  under  the  same  conditions  in 
other  places.  As  we  have  seen,  the  year  1900  saw 
a  rented  Chinese  building,  a  little  day  school  with 
a  few  boys  and  a  handful  of  Christians  most  of 
whom,  as  was  afterward  ascertained,  were  in  the 
Church  from  unworthy  motives.  Little  by  little  the 
missionary  staff  had  been  increased — land  was 
bought — the  first  temporary  hospital  erected — a 
small  chapel  and  outstations  were  opened;  but 
Anking's  chief  asset  has  been  its  medical  work. 
It  has  won  for  the  Mission  many  friends  and  made 
the  Church  well  known  for  hundreds  of  miles.  So 
rapidly  did  the  work  grow  that  in  1907  land  was  se 
cured  for  the  development  of  the  Anking  Station 
along  big  lines.  The  new  St.  James*  Hospital  was 
built  which  was  at  the  time  said  to  be  "probably 
the  most  modern  and  complete  hospital  in  China." 
It  certainly  was  so  for  central  China.  It  was  also 
the  only  hospital  for  a  population  of  five  million 
people.  A  boarding  school  for  boys — St.  Paul's 
High  School — has  grown  out  of  the  little  day 
school,  while  St.  Agnes'  School  for  girls  is  doing 
for  its  great  district  the  work  that  St.  Hilda's  in 
Hankow,  and  St.  Mary's  in  Shanghai  are  doing  for 
their  sections. 


296         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

The  little  $250  chapel  built  in  1900  with  its  handful  of 
Christians  is  no  longer  the  central  home  of  the  Anking 
Church.  The  beautiful  Cathedral  Church  of  the  Holy 
Saviour  now  shelters  the  many  hundreds  of  Chris 
tians  to  which  the  membership  in  Anking  has 
grown.  The  outstations  have  multiplied  from  none 
in  1900  to  twelve  in  1908,  extending  over  a  section 
as  large  as  the  State  of  Massachusetts. * 

Yangchow.  For  all  the  years  in  which  the  Church 
has  been  engaged  in  mission  work  in  the  maritime 
province  of  Kiangsu  its  activities  had  been  con 
fined  entirely  to  the  lower  half  of  the  province. 
The  development  of  the  outstation  work  in  the 
Kiading,  Wusih,  Tsingpoo  and  Soochow  districts 
had  been  within  comparatively  easy  reach  of  Shang 
hai  by  canal  or  railway.  In  1908  an  important  move 
was  made  toward  occupying  the  northern  section 
of  the  province  where  Mandarin  was  the  language 
of  the  people.  Again  in  the  face  of  an  inadequate 
staff  it  seemed  reckless  to  detach  two  men  for  this 
new  work,  but  feeling  that  the  end  would  fully 
justify  the  decision,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Ancell  and 
Sinclair  were  sent  to  be  the  pioneers  of  our  work 

*In  speaking  of  the  praiseworthy  and  earnest  work  done 
by  the  missionaries  and  native  helpers  at  Anking  mention 
should  be  made  of  our  Chinese  woman  physician  there,  Dr. 
Yoh,  the  physician  in  charge  of  the  woman's  ward.  For 
merly  a  pupil  in  the  Jane  Bohlen  School  for  Girls  in  Wuchang 
(now  St.  Hilda's  School),  continuing  her  education  in  the 
Wesleyan  Mission  Hospital  she  took  her  degree  after  a  very 
careful  training  in  the  Canton  Medical  College.  Bishop  Roots 
speaks  in  high  praise  of  her  professional  ability  and  public 
spirited  willingness  to  shoulder  responsibility. 


New  Ventures  of  Faith  297 

in  this  ancient  and  famous  city.  As  none  of  the 
native  clergy  in  the  district  of  Shanghai  spoke  Man 
darin  Chinese  fluently  Bishop  Roots  loaned  the  Rev. 
Fu  Ta  Hwan  to  assist  the  foreign  clergy.  A  help 
in  opening  the  new  work  was  afforded  by  a  Chris 
tian  in  Yangchow  who  had  been  confirmed  by  the 
second  Bishop  Boone  and  who  had  been  a  con 
sistent  Christian  all  the  years  that  he  had  been 
away  from  his  own  Church  surroundings. 

The  Opening  Wedge.  The  first  step  in  the  work 
was  to  establish  a  school  for  boys  as  a  means  of 
reaching  the  people.  It  soon  developed  into  a 
flourishing  institution.  It  was  largely  through  this 
school  and  contract  with  the  parents  of  the  boys, 
people  of  the  better  classes,  that  the  general  attitude 
of  hostility  which  characterized  Yangchow  residents 
changed  into  a  more  friendly  one.  The  school  proved 
as  the  missionaries  believed  it  would  the  right 
wedge  for  opening  up  the  city.  Yangchow  promises 
to  be  a  good  center  for  outstation  work  and  one  out- 
station  has  been  opened  in  the  neighboring  town  of 
Tai  Chwo  some  twenty  miles  distant. 

Country  Trips.  One  of  the  Shanghai  workers1 
gives  us  an  interesting  picture  of  itinerating  work  in 
the  outstations.  "So  walking,  or  by  boat,  we  visited 
and  held  services  in  ten  different  places  outside  of 
Zangzok.  Generally  it  was  a  tea-house  where  the 
service  was  held;  but  in  two  places  were  stores 
which  had  been  converted  into  chapels,  while  in 
other  cases  it  was  a  private  house,  the  owner  of 

••Rev.  H.  A.  McNulty  in  Spirit  of  Missions,  1910,  page  34. 


298         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

which  was  either  a  Christian  or  an  enquirer.  [The 
time  of  day  at  which  the  meeting  was  held  depended 
entirely  on  our  arrival — it  might  be  at  eight  in  the 
morning;  once  it  was  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  in 
a  great  farm-house  three  miles  away  in  the  country 
from  our  boat ;  and  here  amid  the  farm  implements 
and  baskets,  with  some  twenty  or  thirty  of  the  clan 
around,  the  Word  of  Christ  was  read  and  preached 
and  prayers  sent  up  to  the  Father." 

Nanking.  The  capital  of  Kiangsi  was  the  last 
of  the  capitals  of  the  provinces  in  which  this 
Church  is  at  work  to  be  occupied.  In  1910  the 
Rev.  J.  M.  B.  Gill  left  Yangchow  to  open  up  this 
work.  There  were  already  communicants  of  the 
Church  residing  in  Nanking  and  the  outlook  was 
encouraging.  Other  missions  were  doing  good 
work  in  Nanking  but  the  additional  worker  and 
mission  were  welcomed  especially  as  the  aim  in 
view  was  a  new  one — i.  e.,  to  reach  the  better  classes 
of  Chinese  who  had  not  been  reached  by  the  other  mis 
sions  in  Nanking  nor  to  any  appreciable  extent  by 
any  mission  anywhere  in  China.  The  field  was  a 
hard  one  full  of  weary  waits  and  discouragements, 
but  it  was  felt  that  something  more  must  be  done 
to  bring  this  class  of  business  and  professional  men 
into  the  fold  of  the  Church.1 

"We  Have  Had  the  Men."  "How  shall  we  ac 
count  for  this  advance  in  the  last  ten  years,"  wrote 

1This  seemingly  difficult  work  has  been  made  much  easier 
by  the  overthrow  of  the  Manchu  regime  and  the  changed 
attitude  towards  Christianity. 


New  Ventures  of  Faith  299 

the  Rev.  Mr.  Nichols  in  1910,  "when  there  was  so 
little  comparatively  before?  The  answer,  short 
and  comprehensive,  ought  to  ring  throughout  the 
home  Church.  We  have  had  the  men.  For  fifty  odd 
years  before  1900  there  had  been  two,  three  and  four 
American  priests  trying  to  lead  and  plant  the 
Church  in  Kiangsu.  Sometimes  there  was  but  one 
to  shoulder  the  burden.  In  1900  there  were  six,  two 
having  just  come  to  the  work.  This  year  there  are 
fourteen  on  the  bishop's  staff."  The  number  of 
native  clergy  had  moreover  increased  from  ten  to 
fifteen. 

The  Shanghai  Training  School  for  Catechists. 
Part  of  this  increase  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Shang 
hai  had  been  able  to  add  the  training  of  catechists 
to  its  many  activities.  The  School  had  a  difficult 
time  in  getting  started.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Mosher  had 
organized  it  soon  after  opening  Wusih  in  1901. 
A  few  men  were  trained  here  for  a  short  time.  Later 
the  School  was  opened  again  in  Soochow  under  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ancell  and  then  in  Shanghai  where  it  was 
conducted  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nichols  on  the  veranda 
of  his  dwelling  house.  It  was  therefore  a  matter  of 
much  rejoicing  when  funds  were  secured  for  the 
permanent  housing  and  development  of  this  indis 
pensable  work  in  Wusih,  and  the  corner-stone  was 
laid  by  Bishop  Nichols  of  California  in  1911.  One 
of  the  workers  wrote  of  the  occasion:  "If  any 
thing  in  the  district  of  Shanghai  needed  a  corner 
stone  or  some  other  symbol  of  permanence  it  is 
the  Catechists'  School."  The  buildings  for  it  were 


300        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

completed  in  the  year  following. 

The  Hankow  Training  School.  The  Hankow  dis 
trict  had  been  the  pioneer  in  the  matter  of  a  school 
for  the  training  of  catechists,  and  the  development 
of  the  Evangelistic  work  in  that  district  had  con 
vincingly  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  such  an 
institution,  and  the  value  of  the  training  it  afforded. 
Here  men  in  good  Christian  standing  who  did  not 
look  forward  to  the  Christian  ministry  were  given 
a  two  or  three  years'  course  of  training  and  then 
sent  out  by  the  Bishop  to  lead  in  opening  new  sta 
tions  and  assist  in  the  old.  It,  too,  had  had  a  peri 
patetic  existence,  but  in  spite  of  its  travels  and 
uncertain  home  it  had  done  good  work.  Over 
forty  men  had  completed  the  course  and  twenty- 
five  were  in  training  when  early  in  1909  it  moved 
into  the  roomy  and  well-equipped  building  erected 
for  it  in  the  German  Concession  in  Hankow.  The 
Rector,  the  Rev.  S.  H.  Littell,  through  whose 
energy  the  funds  were  raised  for  this  new  develop 
ment,  made  the  building  large  enough  to  house  fifty 
students  thus  providing,  seemingly,  for  the  normal 
growth  of  the  school  for  some  years  to  come.  But 
things  were  moving  fast  in  China  and  in  two  years 
the  school  was  crowded  beyond  its  limits  with  fifty- 
two  students,  the  extra  ones  sleeping  in  the  attic. 

A  Unique  Opportunity  for  St.  John's.  In  1911 
the  further  extension  of  St.  John's  University  was 
made  possible  by  the  purchase  of  an  adjoining 
estate  called  the  Unkasa  property.  This  added 
eleven  acres  of  ground  to  the  crowded  Mission 


New  Ventures  of  Faith  301 

compound.  The  situation  of  the  University  had 
been  excellent — occupying  one-half  of  a  peninsula 
made  by  an  abrupt  turn  in  the  Soochow  Creek. 
The  other  half  of  this  peninsula  however  composed 
a  private  estate  owned  by  an  English  merchant 
and  used  as  a  residence.  The  right  of  way  of  St. 
John's  campus  lay  through  this  property  and  al 
though  it  has  been  courteously  granted  for  many 
years  it  might  be  closed  at  any  time.  For  a  long 
time  the  University  had  looked  longingly  upon  this 
property — it  had  been  one  of  the  Naboth's  Vine 
yards  in  the  Mission  field — for  its  acquisition  would 
mean  the  doubling  of  the  college  compound,  free 
dom  from  all  possible  encroachments  and  room  for 
all  the  conceivable  expansion  that  even  rapidly 
growing  St.  John's  University  would  need.  The 
estate  came  suddenly  on  the  market  in  1911  and 
rather  than  have  this  means  of  extension  indefi 
nitely  lost  to  the  University  the  Board  of  Missions 
sanctioned  its  purchase,  giving  to  St.  John's  as 
one  of  the  members  of  the  Board  said — the  oppor 
tunity  of  becoming  to  China  what  Harvard  College 
has  been  to  America.  A  large  part  of  the  money  is 
still  needed  for  the  payment  of  this  property. 

An  Estimate  of  St.  John's  University.  An  Ameri 
can  journalist,  Mr.  William  T.  Ellis,  visiting  China 
recently,  in  writing  to  America  spoke  thus  of  St. 
John's:  "St.  John's  University,  Shanghai,  is  un 
questionably  the  greatest  educational  institution 
in  China.  I  have  talked  over  the  subject  with  many 
men  of  many  denominations  and  they  all  concede  this. 


302         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

It  has  stood  for  the  highest  ideals  of  culture  and  of 
Christianity.  The  thoroughness  of  its  work  and  the 
excellence  of  its  standing  have  commanded  the 
allegiance  of  the  very  best  class  of  Chinese  in  the 
Empire.  I  have  been  chagrined  to  find  many 
Episcopalians  on  this  side  of  the  water  who  did 
not  know  of  this  immense  work  which  their  Church 
is  doing  on  the  other  side  of  the  world.  It  seems 
to  me  that  if  St.  John's  were  the  property  of  my 
Church,  I  would  do  a  deal  of  bragging  about  it — 
in  fact  I  have  bragged  not  a  little  about  it  as  it  is." 

Archdeacon  Thomson's  Semi-Centenary  Celebra 
tion.  A  notable  event  in  the  history  of  the  China 
Mission  occurred  in  1909  when,  on  December  21st, 
was  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Rev. 
Elliot  H.  Thomson,  Archdeacon  of  Shanghai.  He 
had  come  out  to  China  in  the  days  of  the  first 
Bishop  Boone  in  company  with  Mr.  Samuel  Scher- 
eschewsky  and  ten  other  new  workers  in  the  days 
when  the  journey  consumed  nearly  six  months. 
The  debt  of  the  Mission  to  the  Archdeacon  in  that 
half  century  of  faithful,  eventful  service  should 
always  be  remembered. 

In  1865,  deaths  on  the  field,  serious  illnesses,  civil 
war  in  the  United  States,  and  the  death  of  the 
Bishop  had  reduced  the  once  promising  work  of  the 
Mission  almost  to  the  vanishing  point,  until  at  one 
time  Mr.  Thomson  was  the  only  representative  of 
the  Church's  work  at  the  center  of  its  work  in  the 
Empire.  The  slender  thread  would  have  been 
broken  had  it  not  been  for  the  unwearying  devo- 


New  Ventures  of  Faith  303 

tion  of  Mr.  Thomson  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Wong  and  Mr.  Woo.  He  had  witnessed  and  had 
part  in  practically  every  great  enterprise  in  which 
the  Church  had  engaged.  Among  other  things  he 
started  St.  Luke's  Hospital.  He  began  the  pioneer 
work  in  many  of  the  Mission  stations,  and  he  had 
lived  to  see  the  Church  firmly  planted  in  them. 
He  had  assisted  in  the  training  of  a  noble  company 
of  mission  workers,  among  them  forty  candidates 
for  Holy  Orders.  "He  has  superintended  the  work 
of  the  Chinese  clergy  with  a  tact,  patience  and 
wisdom  that  have  helped  every  other  member  of 
the  staff  in  his  dealings  with  native  workers.  He 
has  rendered  valuable  service  in  translating  the 
Scriptures,  both  on  a  committee  of  our  own  dis 
trict  and  on  one  of  the  general  committees  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  He  has  served  under  five 
bishops,  has  welcomed  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  missionaries  and  has  ever  been  a  type  of  what 
a  devoted  herald  of  the  Cross  should  be." 3  And 
his  presence  today  is  a  benediction  to  the  Mission 
and  its  workers, 


'Editorial,  Spirit  of  Missions,  1909,  p.  1006. 


BRINGING   FORTH    FRUIT   MANY   FOLD 
1909-1910 


CHAPTER   XIV 

BRINGING  FORTH  FRUIT  MANY  FOLD 
1909-1910 

The  Half  Was  Not  Told.  One  of  the  Hankow 
staff  who  had  labored  in  Wuchang  in  the  days  of 
slow  results  and  little  response  in  the  nineties  re 
turning  to  his  field  of  labor  again  in  1908,  after  an 
absence  of  ten  years,  was  greatly  impressed  with 
the  change  of  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese 
and  the  marvelous  growth  of  the  Mission.  We  may 
catch  a  vivid  glimpse  of  it  through  Dr.  Merrins* 
eyes  and  realize  what  these  first  years  of  this  cen 
tury  had  seen  accomplished. 

"When  I  left  China  a  few  years  ago,  in  what  is 
now  the  district  of  Hankow,  the  number  of  our 
foreign  missionaries  could  be  counted  easily  on  the 
fingers  of  two  hands;  now  there  are  about  forty, 
and  churches,  hospitals  and  schools  have  propor 
tionately  increased.  In  Wuhu,  Kiukiang,  Shasi 
and  Changsha  in  the  Province  of  Hunan,  there  are 
now  strong  native  churches  where  formerly  we 
had  no  work  at  all  and  Hunan  was  a  closed 
province."  After  citing  the  various  institutions 

307 


308         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

and  the  growth  by  leaps  and  bounds  in  numbers 
and  power  he  continues: 

"One  of  the  most  encouraging  features  both  in 
Hankow  and  Wuchang,  is  the  evangelistic  and 
educational  movement  among  women  and  girls  of 
the  higher  classes,  either  started  or  supported  by 
themselves.  In  short  the  work  is  expanding  in  all 
directions.  At  one  time  our  missionaries  were  so 
few,  and  the  opposition  or  inertia  of  the  people  so 
serious,  it  required  the  faith  that  moves  mountains 
to  expect  great  and  immediate  results.  Now  while 
doubtless  many  hopes  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
have  been  realized,  every  one,  from  the  beloved 
bishop  downward,  is  enthusiastically  pressing  for 
ward,  believing  that  under  the  blessing  of  God  still 
greater  results  will  be  seen  in  the  future.  Before 
reaching  China,  I  was  told  many  surprises  awaited 
me.  Like  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  I  hardly  believed 
the  words,  until  I  came  and  mine  own  eyes  had  seen 
the  changes,  and  behold !  the  half  was  not  told  me." 

Boone  Becomes  a  University.  Step  by  step 
Boone  College  had  advanced  from  very  small 
beginnings,  when  in  1868  it  was  established  by 
Bishop  Williams,  to  the  honored  place  it  holds  in 
Central  China,  where  it  is  easily  first  of  its  kind. 
In  1909  it  was  incorporated  as  a  University  with 
the  right  of  granting  degrees.  The  government 
(Confucian)  schools  were  growing  in  number  and 
in  efficiency  and  the  leaders  of  Mission  institutions 
realized  that  Mission  colleges  must  not  only  main 
tain  but  advance  their  high  standard  of  educational 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold          309 

efficiency  if  they  were  to  continue  to  attract  to  the 
Christian  atmosphere  of  mission  schools  and  col 
leges  the  young  men  and  women  who  were  looking 
for  the  best  education  they  could  find.  The  day 
Aad  gone  by  when  instruction  in  Christian  doctrine 
,md  required  attendance  on  Christian  worship 
created  any  difficulty.  In  1901  after  the  Boxer 
outbreak  Boone  School  was  opened  with  one  hun 
dred  boys  which  was  a  great  advance  over  a  few 
years  previous.  In  1910  the  enrollment  was  420 
resident  students  with  a  large  number  unable  to 
find  entrance.  The  power  now  to  grant  degrees  en- 
enabled  the  College  to  hold  to  the  end  of  their  course 
students  who  would  otherwise  go  elsewhere  in 
order  to  be  given  such  recognition. 

Expansion  in  Wuchang.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
it  was  decided  that  the  whole  of  the  Wuchang  com 
pound  which  up  to  this  time  had  housed  all  the 
institutions  should  be  given  up  to  the  growth  of 
the  University  and  that  St.  Hilda's  School  for  girls, 
the  hospitals  for  men  and  women,  should  move  to 
separate  compounds  in  more  advantageous  positions 
where  each  would  have  room  for  its  own  develop 
ment.  As  Boone  had  grown  it  had  acquired  a  good 
deal  of  the  land  in  its  vicinity — one  of  the  streets 
leading  past  the  woman's  hospital  had  even  been 
closed  by  the  city  authorities  in  order  to  connect 
new  and  old  college  property  on  both  sides  of  the 
city.  In  fact  the  growth  of  the  mission  work  had 
entirely  changed  the  character  of  that  corner  of 
the  city  and  it  was  felt  wiser  to  move  hospitals  to 


3io         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

busier  parts.  Accordingly  they  have  been  moved, 
the  college  undertaking  to  refund  gradually  the 
cost  of  buildings  and  land  taken  over.  At  present 
it  has  not  yet  been  able  to  pay  the  amount,  as 
the  Revolution  for  some  time  closed  the  college 
and  on  its  reopening  so  decreased  the  number 
of  paying  students,  whose  parents  lost  their 
property  in  the  burning  of  Hankow,  that  its  in 
come  has  been  seriously  though  temporarily  dimin 
ished.  It  has  therefore  not  been  able  to  meet  extra 
obligations. 

The  Wuchang  Hospitals.  Meanwhile  the  in 
creased  activity  of  the  Hospitals  in  their  new 
situation  though  housed  in  very  inadequate  Chinese 
residences  has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  a 
change. 

The  Revolution  in  1911  opened  a  remarkable  op 
portunity  for  the  medical  work  in  Wuchang  and 
the  outlook  for  usefulness  before  these  hospitals 
is  now  greater  than  ever  before.  They  are  still 
in  temporary  quarters  poorly  fitted  for  the  use  to 
which  they  are  now  put.  In  his  last  report  (1912) 
Bishop  Roots  speaks  of  the  need  for  Hospital 
Equipment  as  the  greatest  need  in  the  Hankow 
Mission. 

Boone  Library.  Another  important  development 
in  Wuchang  has  been  the  Boone  Library.  It  is 
strange  that  in  a  land  so  devoted  to  learning  as 
China  has  been  that  there  have  been  no  public  libraries. 
The  Wuchang  library  was  started  by  Miss  Mary 
Elizabeth  Wood  soon  after  her  arrival  as  a  teacher 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold  311 

for  Boone  School.  Desiring  however  to  enlarge 
its  scope  until  it  might  serve  not  only  as  a  help 
to  the  Church's  students  but  reach  all  the  students 
in  the  great  educational  center  of  Wuchang,  plans 
were  made  for  a  University  Library  that  would  be 
at  the  disposal  of  all  who  might  desire  its  services. 
After  the  usual  arduous  months  of  appealing  to  the 
friends  of  China  in  America  for  funds  to  finance  this 
new  enterprise  the  money  was  raised  and  the  build 
ing  erected.  Miss  Wood  and  her  mission  colleagues 
had  the  joy  of  seeing  the  splendid  new  building 
opened  in  1910.  The  upper  floor  is  a  great  hall  in 
which  religious,  scientific  and  literary  lectures  are 
given  for  students  in  government  institutions. 
These  have  been  attended  by  large  numbers  of 
students  and  have  proved  an  effectual  means  of 
reaching  this  hitherto  unapproachable  class. 

St.  Hilda's  School.  With  the  growth  of  Boone 
College  it  was  felt  that  a  more  retired  position  out 
side  the  city  wall  and  removed  from  the  college 
would  be  a  better  position  for  the  Wuchang  board 
ing  school  for  girls.  Its  progress  during  the  years 
since  1900  has  been  steady  and  good.  Its  reputa 
tion  for  being  a  well  ordered  school  with  a  strict 
discipline  was  attracting  a  growing  number  of  ap 
plicants.  The  demand  in  1909  was  far  exceeding 
the  supply  and  it  was  a  source  of  anxiety  and  per 
plexity  to  the  principal  to  know  how  to  crowd  in 
the  girls.  In  the  last  few  years  the  Bishop's  appeal 
for  trained  women  workers  from  America  for  this 
institution  has  met  with  a  gratifying  response  and 


312         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

through  the  generosity  of  the  Woman's  Aux 
iliary  the  funds  have  been  provided  to  erect  a  new 
and  more  commodious  school  building  on  the  site 
selected.  The  old  building  will  provide  a  welcom 
ing  home  for  the  growing  family  of  Boone  students. 
Demand  for  Female  Education.  More  and  more 
there  has  been  an  effort  to  develop  the  educational 
work  for  girls  and  to  catch  up  with  that  for  boys. 
But  the  latter  had  a  long  start  and  the  catching  up 
process  is  not  easy.  It  was  very  natural  that 
there  should  be  this  inequality,  for  during  the 
first  fifty  years  of  missionary  work  in  China,  out 
side  of  Shanghai,  we  had  practically  no  schools  for 
girls.  In  the  first  place  there  was  no  demand  for 
them ;  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  start  a  suc 
cessful  school  in  most  places,  and  in  the  second 
place  there  were  not  enough  trained  American 
women  workers  to  look  after  such  schools.  But  in 
the  great  change  in  China  following  the  Boxer 
reaction  a  demand  for  the  education  of  Chinese  girls 
arose.  This  was  especially  noticeable  in  the  fami 
lies  of  those  boys  who  had  been  educated  in  Mission 
schools  and  who  were  becoming  ashamed  of  their 
ignorant  fiancees  and  relatives.  We  have  seen  how 
this  changed  attitude  had  affected  the  growth  of 
our  girls'  boarding  schools  in  Shanghai,  Wuchang 
and  Anking.  Mission  schools  for  girls  had  at  last, 
moreover,  shamed  a  nation  that  thought  woman 
hood  incapable  of  intellectual  development  into 
opening  government  schools  for  girls.  It  has  been 
one  of  the  many  indirect  benefits  that  Christian 


I  n   m 


A  GROUP  OF  GIRLS'   DAY   SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
A  TYPICAL  GIRLS'   DAY   SCHOOL 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold          313 

missions  have  conferred  upon  China.  But  the  dis 
cipline  in  these  government  institutions  was  often 
lax  and  the  curriculum  irregular  so  that  the  mis 
sion  schools  continued  in  the  lead.  From  this  van 
tage  ground  they  have  been  able  to  bring  to  bear 
upon  the  development  of  Chinese  womanhood  the 
moral  and  spiritual  forces  of  Christianity.  Even 
after  the  government  schools  are  firmly  established 
the  mission  schools  privately  endowed  and  sup 
ported  will  be  able  to  perform  in  China  as  they 
are  doing  in  America  a  high  service  in  holding  up 
a  high  standard  and  making  possible  the  thorough 
Christian  training  for  which  government  institu 
tions  make  no  provision. 

Hankow  Normal  School.  As  the  parochial 
schools  for  girls  multiplied,  the  need  for  trained 
women  teachers  became  evident.  This  was  a  far 
more  difficult  problem  than  training  men,  for  it 
was  not  easy  in  a  land  where  the  conventions  have 
been  so  strict  to  break  so  far  away  from  them  as 
to  have  a  young  unmarried  woman  going  daily  to 
and  fro  to  teach  or  perhaps  living  with  strangers 
away  from  home.  These  general  difficulties  have 
had  to  be  treated  particularly  in  each  individual 
case  for  the  need  for  young  women  trained  teachers 
had  become  imperative.  Under  the  management 
of  Miss  Alice  M.  Clark,  a  normal  school  was  opened 
in  Hankow  and  temporarily  housed  in  her  house 
until  a  small  but  suitable  building  was  erected  for 
this  work  to  serve  while  it  is  still  more  or  less  in 
the  experimental  stage.  In  1912  the  group  of  pros- 


314         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

pective  school  mistresses  settled  in  this  its  first 
permanent  home  on  part  of  the  land,  in  the  Russian 
Concession,  Hankow  purchased  for  the  Training 
School  for  Bible  Women. 

Another  Plan  for  the  Uplift  of  Chinese  Woman 
hood.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  there  were  many 
more  catechists  than  Bible-women  there  are  a  large 
number  of  stations  where  there  is  practically  no 
systematic  work  for  the  instruction  of  the  wives 
of  converts  and  women  enquirers.  To  reach  and 
teach  such  women  in  these  distant  places  a  station 
class  was  started  by  Mrs.  Roots  in  Hankow  in  1909. 
While  new  in  our  Mission  the  idea  was  one  that 
had  been  worked  at  for  some  years  in  the  Church 
of  England  Mission  in  Fukien  with  remarkable  suc 
cess.  In  fact  it  has  been  made  their  chief  method 
for  evangelizing  non-Christian  women  as  well  as  for 
training  Christians.  They  have  thirty  such  houses 
with  twenty-five  or  thirty  women  in  each.  Follow 
ing  this  model  the  first  station  class  in  Hankow 
came  for  three  months'  instruction  in  the  principles 
of  the  Christian  religion.  It  promises  to  be,  if  the 
Church  gives  the  means  to  continue  the  work,  a 
splendid  opportunity  to  extend  the  Message  far 
and  wide. 

Lutheran  Congregation  Admitted.  Another  par 
ish  was  added  to  the  four  in  the  city  of  Hankow  in 
1909  when  the  Mission  took  over  bodily  the  work 
of  the  American  Lutheran  Mission.  Owing  to  the 
desire  of  this  Mission  to  concentrate  its  work  in  the 
province  of  Hunan  they  asked  Bishop  Roots  to 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold          315 

assume  responsibility  for  the  Hankow  congrega 
tion  consisting  of  Christians,  catechumens  and  small 
parochial  schools  for  boys  and  girls.  No  con 
ditions  were  attached  to  the  offer,  which  evidenced 
a  sincere  respect  for  our  Mission  and  the  character 
of  the  work  it  was  doing.  Thus  All  Saints'  Parish 
in  the  near  vicinity  of  the  Catechetical  School  was 
started  with  the  buildings  of  the  Lutherans  rented 
until  such  time  as  the  Mission  could  pay  for  them. 

A  Notable  Ordination.  Perhaps  no  event  in  the 
recent  history  of  the  Hankow  Mission  has  been  of 
more  importance  than  the  ordination  of  seven  dea 
cons  on  January  17th,  1909.  Its  especial  signifi 
cance  lay  not  in  the  large  number,  though  it  meant 
much  to  have  the  small  group  of  native  clergy  aug 
mented  by  more  than  one-third  in  one  day,  but  be 
cause  six  of  them  (all  Boone  College  graduates) 
were  the  best  educated  clergy  trained  by  the  Mis 
sion  on  their  native  soil.  Their  entire  theological 
course  had  been  taken  in  English,  the  students  passing 
the  same  examinations  as  would  be  expected  of  candi 
dates  in  our  best  Seminaries  at  home,  except  for  the 
omission  of  Hebrew  and  Greek,  in  addition  to  the 
study  of  the  classical  books  of  religion,  history  and 
poetry  in  Chinese.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  of 
these  six  three  came  from  non-Christian  homes, 
having  been  brought  into  the  Church  by  means  of 
the  Mission  day  school,  where  also  the  other  four 
had  been  prepared  for  Boone  preparatory  school. 

Rice  Riot  in  Changsha.  During  the  years  since 
the  work  was  opened  in  Hunan  after  the  Boxer 


316         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

movement  it  had  made  steady  progress.  The  Rev. 
A.  A.  Gilman  and  family  had  moved  there  and,  with 
Mr.  Huang,  was  conducting  an  active  and  vigorous 
campaign  of  evangelization.  In  addition  a  board 
ing  school  for  twenty-five  boys  and  a  parochial  day 
school  for  boys  and  girls  had  been  opened.  A 
desirable  plot  of  land  had  been  purchased,  but  the 
work  was  conducted  in  native  buildings  while  the 
missionaries  were  living  in  a  small  semi-foreign 
house  hastily  constructed.  Such  was  the  work 
when  in  the  spring  of  1910,  shortly  after  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gilman  had  returned  from  furlough,  a 
serious  and  lamentable  riot  broke  out  because  of 
the  advanced  cost  of  rice  which  was  beginning  to 
mean  starvation  to  the  lower  classes.  Infuriated 
because  the  governor  would  not  bring  down  the 
price  the  people  rushed  through  the  streets  attack 
ing  the  governor's  yamen  and  the  other  government 
buildings  and  mission  property.  The  Norwegian 
and  China  Inland  Missions  were  burned  and  our 
Mission  although  not  burned  was  devastated  by  the 
angry  crowds.  All  the  missionaries  escaped  with 
their  lives,  but  our  workers  lost  all  furniture  and 
personal  effects  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilman  arrived 
in  Hankow  with  only  such  light  baggage  as  they 
could  save  in  the  hurried  departure.  The  move 
ment  was  not  however  primarily  against  foreigners, 
and  in  a  short  time  Mr.  Gilman  was  able  to  return 
to  Changsha  and  slowly  gather  together  the  threads 
of  this  new  work  and  weave  it  together  more  firmly 
than  ever.  Through  the  interest  and  gifts  of  friends 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold          317 

who  have  the  advance  into  this  great  province  at 
heart,  a  substantial  church  has  been  erected  in 
Changsha  where  the  work  may  find  a  fitting  center. 
The  need  for  other  mission  buildings  in  this  capi 
tal  city  still  continues  imperative. 

Advance  in  Western  Hupeh.  In  the  seventy 
years  of  occupancy  of  Central  China  by  this  Mis 
sion,  Ichang,  a  thousand  miles  from  the  ocean,  has 
been  the  westernmost  point  occupied.  Between  it 
and  the  province  of  Szechuan  where  several  mis 
sions  were  at  work,  stretched  Western  Hupeh,  a 
region  considerably  larger  than  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  In  this  large  dis 
trict  only  the  Romanists  were  at  work  and  they 
only  here  and  there.  The  eyes  of  the  workers  in 
Ichang  turned  longingly  to  this  great  unoccupied 
field  in  which  were  many  openings,  and  especially 
to  the  city  of  Szenan.  This  city  nine  days  distant, 
by  foot,  over  the  mountains  from  Ichang,  was  the 
center  of  government  for  one  million  people. 

The  First  Board  of  Missions  in  the  District  of 
Hankow.  At  the  Conference  of  the  foreign  and 
Chinese  workers  of  the  Hankow  district  in  1910  a 
Board  of  Missions  was  organized  similar  in  plan  to 
a  diocesan  board  in  America.  Under  its  auspices 
work  was  opened  in  the  difficult  field  of  Szenan  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Tseng,  Chinese  priest  for  many  years 
at  Ichang,  was  set  apart  for  this  work.  This  step 
made  definite  a  long  cherished  plan  of  giving  the 
Chinese  Church  the  opportunity  of  branching  out 
into  its  own  vast  home  missionary  field.  In  the  fol- 


3i8         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

lowing  year  a  station  was  opened  in  Hukow  in  the 
province  of  Kiangsi  in  the  district  of  Wuhu.  All 
the  expenses  of  these  new  ventures,  apart  from  the 
salaries  of  the  workers  (the  priest  at  Szenan  and 
the  catechist  at  Hukow),  such  as  rent,  furnishings 
and  incidentals,  were  undertaken  by  the  district 
Board  of  Missions. 

Japanese  Work  in  Hankow.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan  and  with  the 
growth  of  the  ambition  and  prestige  of  the  latter 
nation  a  large  number  of  Japanese  flocked  to  China 
as  teachers  in  Chinese  schools  and  for  business 
purposes.  It  is  estimated  that  there  were  soon  two 
thousand  of  them  in  Hankow  alone.  Some  of  these 
were  Christians  of  various  missions  in  Japan  and 
their  unshepherded  condition  made  a  distinct  appeal 
to  the  Mission.  Fortunately  the  Mission  staff  in 
Wuchang  contained  a  missionary  who  had  been 
born  and  lived  in  Japan  and  spoke  Japanese.  Under 
the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dudley  Tyng  a  Japanese 
congregation  was  organized  in  Hankow  and  not 
only  was  the  little  group  held  together  but  con 
siderable  increase  has  been  made  by  confirmations. 
This  work  gave  to  the  work  of  the  Mission  a 
cosmopolitan  character,  for  in  addition  to  the 
wide-spread  Chinese  work  in  the  five  parishes,  and 
the  vigorous  English  congregation  in  the  British 
Concession,  work  in  another  language  and  for 
another  race  had  now  been  assumed. 

"As  Others  See  Us."  It  is  interesting  to  see 
how  the  work  of  our  Mission  in  China  appears  to 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold          319 

other  people.  A  missionary  of  another  Christian 
body  writing  home  to  her  sister1  thus  speaks  of  it: 
"At  Hankow  we  saw  the  Episcopal  work  and  it 
was  just  a  revelation  to  us  of  what  could  be  done, 
if  we  only  had  the  men  and  the  means.  They  have 
the  very  largest  and  finest  school  for  boys  in 
China.  They  have  any  number  of  smaller  day 
schools.  They  have  just  built  a  Public  Library 
costing  ten  thousand  gold  dollars.  They  have  not 
stinted  the  money  put  into  the  work,  but  have  gone 
ahead  and  done  things  that  were  really  worthy  of 
the  cause,  and  they  have  the  result — three  hundred 
boys  in  their  college,  and  from  the  best  families 
in  that  part  of  China,  and  I  don't  know  how  many 
more  in  the  day  schools.  Their  stations  in  the 
three  cities  of  Hankow,  Wuchang  and  Hanyang 
(they  are  right  across  the  river  from  one  another) 
have  thirty-four  foreign  workers,  and  they  are  in 
vesting  brains,  money  and  talent  tenfold  in  the 
work.  They  have  several  churches  there  with  a 
large  membership,  a  training-school  for  Bible- 
women  and  one  for  men.  And  they  certainly  have 
been  well  paid  for  their  investment  in  the  numbers 
and  character  of  their  Christians.  If  only  all 
our  Boards  could  see  the  wisdom  of  concentration, 
instead  of  scattering  poorly-manned  stations  and 
a  few  workers  over  a  large  territory,  we  might 
expect  much  greater  results.  If  we  are  going 
to  do  things  that  are  worth  spending  our  time 

*  Spirit  of  Missions,  1911,  p.  414. 


320         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

for  in  China  we  have  got  to  have  the  men,  the 
means,  and  the  equipment  for  properly  carrying  on 
the  work." 

A  Chinese  Saint.  While  the  work  was  thus  advanc 
ing  everywhere,  the  general  unrest  of  the  people 
which  in  1911  culminated  in  a  successful  revolu 
tion,  was  causing  the  throne  great  uneasiness. 
Everywhere  officials  were  on  the  lookout  for  revo 
lutionary  leaders  and  many  were  the  executions  of 
suspects.  A  history  of  the  Church's  Mission  in 
China  would  not  be  complete  without  the  story  of 
Liu  Chin-An.  A  young  scholar  of  Hupeh,  he  had 
first  come  in  touch  with  Christianity  through  books 
and  tracts  distributed  by  missionaries  to  the  stu 
dents  who  came  to  Wuchang  to  pass  the  govern 
ment  examinations  for  a  literary  degree.  So  inter 
ested  was  this  young  seeker  after  truth  that  he 
made  further  enquiries  about  Christianity  on  his 
return  to  Wuchang  and  was  finally  converted  and 
baptized.  While  still  a  catchumen  he  came  to  see 
Bishop  Roots  and  asked  to  be  accepted  as  a 
candidate  for  the  ministry,  as  his  one  great  thought 
was  to  tell  his  fellow  countrymen  the  Message 
that  had  brought  peace  to  him.  In  spite  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  he  persevered,  feeling  that 
he  must  preach  the  Gospel.  While  preparing  he 
was  used,  because  of  his  superior  Chinese  learning, 
as  a  teacher  of  the  Chinese  classics  to  his  fellow 
divinity  students.  Here  he  greatly  endeared  him 
self  to  the  young  men.  "He  is  the  one  Chinese 
scholar/'  said  one  of  them,  "who  can  meet  one  on 


Bringing  Forth  Fruit  Many  Fold          321 

any  intellectual  grounds  sharing  one's  enthusiasms 
while  guiding  them." 

It  was  while  he  was  thus  engaged  that  he  was 
arrested  in  1907  on  the  charge  of  being  one  Liu 
Chia-Yuin,  the  leader  of  the  Revolutionary  party 
in  the  province  of  Hupeh.  The  charge  was  mani 
festly  false  and  investigation  proved  it  so,  but  on 
the  false  testimony  of  an  acquaintance,  a  teacher 
also  under  suspicion,  he  was  condemned  to  death. 
His  life  was  saved  at  the  last  minute  by  an  order 
from  Pekin  to  delay  until  the  case  could  be  more 
carefully  investigated,  and  the  sentence  was  finally 
changed  to  imprisonment  for  life.  In  the  horrors 
of  a  Chinese  prison  this  sentence  was  not  a  long 
one. 

His  desire  to  preach  Christ  was  fulfilled  in  ways 
he  had  little  dreamed  of.  Never  once  during  the 
awful  time  of  torture  and  the  days  of  suspense 
that  followed  "did  he  waver  in  his  outspoken  be 
lief  in  God  and  the  Christ  to  whom  his  accusers 
mockingly  appealed  in  his  behalf,"  wrote  Mrs.  Roots 
in  1909.  "Two  successive  gaolers  who  had  personal 
charge  of  him  have  been  converted  to  Christianity 
and  are  now  enrolled  as  preparing  for  Baptism.1 
His  father  who  has  recently  died  without  seeing 
his  son  set  free,  his  mother  and  his  brother  have  all 
embraced  Christianity, — led  to  it  by  him,  and 
his  former  pupils  in  the  Divinity  School  look  up 
to  him  almost  as  to  a  St.  Paul,  for  they  now  see 

1  One  of  them  later  became  a  Chinese  missionary, 


322         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

in  him  not  only  their  ideal  teacher  but  a  Christian 
confessor.  Over  a  year  ago,  one  of  these  young 
men,  now  a  deacon  in  the  Church,  managed  to  see 
him  in  prison,  and  as  they  talked  of  the  young 
man's  prospects  of  study  and  of  coming  ordina 
tion,  Liu  Chin-An  said  'The  Lord  has  indeed 
shown  His  love  for  you,  but  His  love  for  me  has 
been  greater,  and  I  know  that  my  being  here  is 
part  of  His  good  plan  for  me/  '; 

The  prison  conditions  and  confinement  soon 
broke  down  his  sensitive  young  life  and  after  four 
and  a  half  years  of  imprisonment  he  died  in  1911, 
a  few  months  before  the  Revolution  set  free  all 
political  prisoners.  Toward  the  end  of  his  life  he 
was  not  allowed  to  see  his  friends  nor  were  they 
allowed  to  minister  to  his  comfort  or  relieve  his 
distress.  But  occasionally  he  was  able  to  get 
letters  to  them,  "epistles"  his  former  students 
called  them,  full  of  the  spirit  of  love  and  unfading 
trust  in  the  Saviour  who  had  died  for  Him.  "He 
so  whole-heartedly  received  that  Life/'  wrote 
Bishop  Roots  after  his  death,  "and  by  its  power 
transformed  the  hard  conditions  under  which  he 
lived,  that  he  richly  deserves  the  highest  name  we 
can  give  to  any  man,  that  of  a  Saint  of  God/'  His 
life  has  been  one  of  the  richest  encouragements 
that  has  come  to  the  Church  in  China; — another 
evidence  that  not  the  name  only  but  the  power  of 
Christ  has  entered  into  the  lives  of  the  Chinese 
people. 


WUHU— THE  NEW  MISSIONARY  DISTRICT; 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 

SHENG  KUNG  HUI 

1910-1911 


CHAPTER  XV 

WUHU— THE  NEW  MISSIONARY  DISTRICT; 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 

SHENG  KUNG  HUI 

1910-1911 

Division  of  the  Diocese  of  Hankow.  The  steady 
development  of  the  work  centering  around  the 
three  stations,  Wuhu,  Anking  and  Kiukiang,  and 
the  vast  stretches  of  densely  populated  regions  of 
the  country  all  around  them  where  as  yet  the  Mis 
sion  had  not  been  able  to  penetrate,  led  the  General 
Convention  in  1910  to  set  apart  the  Eastern  por 
tion  of  the  district  of  Hankow  into  a  separate  mis 
sionary  district.  The  new  district,  sandwiched  be 
tween  Hankow  and  Shanghai,  comprised  the 
province  of  Anhui  and  that  part  of  the  province 
of  Kiangsi  north  of  latitude  twenty  degrees  north. 
This  creation  of  a  new  missionary  district  from 
the  district  of  Hankow,  following  nine  years  only 
after  the  creation  of  the  latter  district  from  the 
original  "diocese"  in  China,  gives  an  idea  of  the 
rapid  development  of  the  Mission  work  and  of  the 

323 


324        The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

quickened  interest  and  determination  on  the  part 
of  the  Church  in  the  United  States  to  push  more 
vigorously  into  the  great,  open  harvest  field. 

The  First  Bishop  of  Wuhu.  The  Church  en 
trusted  the  care  of  the  new  work  to  one  who  had 
proven  for  over  twenty  years  his  ability  to  pro 
mote  the  interests  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  China. 
The  Rev.  F.  L.  Hawks  Pott  was  called  from  his 
work  at  St.  John's  University  to  be  the  first 
Bishop  of  Wuhu,  but  he  felt  unable  to  leave  the 
post  he  had  served  so  long  and  a  year  later  the 
Rev.  D.  Trumbull  Huntington  of  Ichang  was  chosen 
for  the  new  office.  The  election  of  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton,  because  of  his  singular  devotion  to  the  work 
and  his  ripe  experience  of  seventeen  years,  brought 
general  satisfaction,  and  again  there  was  the  feel 
ing  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  mission  workers 
that  the  Church  had  chosen  wisely  and  well. 

Consecration  of  Bishop  Huntington.  The  first 
Bishop  of  Wuhu  was  advanced  to  the  Episcopate  on 
the  Feast  of  Annunciation,  March  25th,  1912,  in  St. 
John's  pro-Cathedral  on  the  grounds  of  St.  John's 
University,  Shanghai.  Bishop  Graves  was  the 
consecrating  Bishop,  assisted  by  Bishop  Roots  and 
Bishop  Moloney  of  the  Church  of  England  mis 
sion  in  Chekiang  which  adjoins  the  Shanghai  dis 
trict  on  the  south.  Bishop  Cassels,  the  leader  of 
the  Church  of  England  Mission  in  Szechuan  and 
West  China,  also  took  part  in  the  laying  on  of 
hands.  Bishop  Roots  who  so  long  had  been  associ 
ated  with  Bishop  Huntington  in  the  work  in  the 


Wuhu — The  New  Missionary  District      325 

city  and  district  of  Hankow  preached  the  consecra 
tion  sermon.1 

Anking  Chosen  as  See  City.  It  was  no  light  bur 
den  that  the  new  Bishop  had  to  take  up.  The  dis 
trict  of  Wuhu  has  an  immense  population  with  but 
few  mission  buildings  and  workers.  With  him  how 
ever  these  workers  have  set  themselves  anew  to 
face  resolutely  the  work  before  them.  Anking, 
situated  on  the  Yangtse  River,  three  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  from  the  coast,  was  selected  as  the  see 
city.  It  is  the  capital  of  the  province  and  contains 
a  population  of  about  one  hundred  thousand.  Here 
was  a  large  compound  of  fifteen  acres  in  which  the 
new  St.  James*  Hospital  was  continuing  to  draw 
the  love  and  gratitude  of  the  city  and  country  people 
to  the  Mission  and  its  work.  St.  Agnes'  School 
for  girls  and  St.  Paul's  School  for  boys,  though  new, 
were  also  adding  to  the  fame  and  usefulness  of  the 
Church. 

The  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Saviour.  The  new 
Church  of  the  Holy  Saviour  which  was  completed 
in  1912  became  through  the  choice  of  Anking  for  the 
episcopal  residence  the  cathedral  of  the  new  dis 
trict.  The  consecration  of  this  church,  the  largest 
in  the  China  Mission,  was  followed  by  a  remark 
able  series  of  evangelistic  services  lasting  for  over 
a  week.  The  aim  of  these  services  was  to  introduce  a 
striking  evangelistic  campaign  such  as  had  not  been 

1  Bishop  Huntington  was  the  first  bishop  to  promise  con 
formity  both  to  the  Church  in  the  United  States  and  the  newly 
organized  Holy  Catholic  Church  in  China. 


326         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

possible  before  in  the  small  mission  buildings.  Dif 
ferent  classes  of  people  were  invited  by  ticket  for 
different  days  and  the  subjects  arranged  to  be  such 
as  would  appeal  to  each.  On  one  night  officials  and 
students  were  invited,  on  another  gentry  and  mer 
chants,  on  another  soldiers,  on  another  industrial 
guilds.  The  attendance  averaged  one  thousand  five 
hundred  to  two  thousand  people  daily  and  many 
signed  the  little  cards  distributed  signifying  their 
desire  for  instruction  in  the  Christian  religion. 

The  Voice  of  a  Rival  Silenced.  Thus  full  of  prom 
ise  the  new  Cathedral  started  in  a  most  practical 
way  its  work  of  setting  forth  the  glory  and  praise 
of  almighty  God.  At  the  same  time  a  wide 
spread  movement  away  from  idolatry  throughout 
China  was  felt  in  Anking.  "Almost  coincident," 
wrote  the  Rev.  E.  J.  Lee,  "with  the  opening  of  the 
Cathedral  the  great  city  temple  adjoining  the  cathe 
dral  compound  was  dismantled.  The  idols  were 
many  of  them  thrown  into  the  river,  the  building 
whitewashed  and  converted  into  a  market.  Its  great 
bell  is  now  no  longer  heard.  The  bell  of  the  cathe 
dral  supersedes  it  and  is  now  calling  people  to  the 
purer  worship  of  the  true  God." 

Progress  Toward  Unification  of  Anglican  Work. 
With  the  beginning  of  the  conferences  of  the  Eng 
lish  and  American  bishops  in  China,  in  1897,  grew 
the  hope  that  some  day  the  Church  of  England  and 
the  American  Episcopal  Mission  in  China  might 
combine  into  one  Church  in  China.  The  Conference 
in  April,  1907,  marked  a  great  step  in  advance.  Be- 


Wuhu — The  New  Missionary  District      327 

sides  the  Bishops,  duly  elected  presbyters  were 
present  for  the  first  time.  There  were  two  clerical 
representatives  present  from  each  of  the  eight  mis 
sionary  jurisdictions  in  China.  The  chief  subject 
of  this  Conference  was  that  of  the  organization  of 
the  Anglican  Communion  in  China,  and  obstacles 
that  had  long  seemed  serious  were  dealt  with  in  a 
way  to  encourage  greatly  and  to  cheer  the  friends  of 
union. 

Concordat  of  1908.  For  a  period  of  more  than 
fifty  years  the  question  of  the  exact  determination 
of  the  territory  under  the  respective  jurisdictions 
of  the  American  and  English  Churches  had  been 
under  discussion.  The  chief  difficulty  had  been 
the  Chinese  work  in  the  city  of  Shanghai  in  which 
both  missions  had  chapels.  Other  questions  such 
as  ministering  to  the  English  residents  throughout 
China  also  entered  into  the  discussion.  An  agree 
ment  was  signed  at  Lambeth,  London,  in  July,  1908, 
by  the  (English)  Bishop  in  Chekiang  and  the 
(American)  Bishops  of  Shanghai  and  Hankow  and 
approved  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Presiding  Bishop  of  the  American  Church.  By  this 
agreement  the  exact  limits  of  the  American  and 
English  missionary  districts  in  China  were  defi 
nitely  fixed  and  mutual  arrangements  were  made 
to  avoid  any  future  overlapping  of  territory. 
The  English  and  Chinese  clergymen  connected 
with  St.  Paul's  Chinese  congregation,  Shanghai, 
thereupon  took  out  licenses  under  the  American 
Bishop  who  immediately  visited  the  congrega- 


328         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

tion  for  Confirmation.  It  was  further  decided  that 
all  congregations  of  English  people  in  China,  irre 
spective  of  location,  to  whom  English  clergymen 
ministered,  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
English  Bishop  in  Chekiang.  In  the  provinces  of 
Hunan  and  Kiangsi  the  English  Church  was  as 
signed  those  parts  south  of  latitude  28°  North  and 
the  American  Church  limited  its  missionary  opera 
tions  to  the  northern  parts.1 

The  Conference  of  1909.  Thus  the  last  of  long 
standing  difficulties  were  cleared  away  and  the  way 
was  opened  for  the  full  and  harmonious  union  of 
the  Missions  of  the  English  and  American  Churches 
in  China.  The  Conference  of  1909  was  the  first  truly 
representative  conference  of  the  Anglican  Com 
munion  in  China,  for  at  it  were  assembled  Chinese 
clerical  elected  delegates  in  addition  to  the  foreign 
clergy  and  bishops.  This  Conference  was  signifi 
cant  because  of  the  action  taken  adopting  a  tenta 
tive  Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  Chinese 
Church,  the  Chung  Hua  Sheng  Kung  Hui.  "This," 
wrote  Bishop  Graves,  "is  the  end  for  which  our 
Missions  have  been  striving  ever  since  they  were 
sent  to  China  by  the  Churches  in  England  and 
America,  the  formation  of  a  Chinese  Church,  and 
is  the  crown  of  the  work  of  more  than  sixty  years." 

The  Holy  Catholic  Church  of  China.  The  dio 
cesan  Synods  in  China  and  the  home  Churches 
having  approved  the  tentative  Constitution  and 

1  For  full  text  of  this  agreement  see  Spirit  of  Missions  for 
September,  1908,  p.  701. 


Wuhu — The  New  Missionary  District      329 

Canons  drawn  up  in  1909  these  were  formally 
adopted  by  the  Conference  of  1911  and  on  April 
26th  of  that  year  in  St.  John's  pro-Cathedral,  Shang 
hai,  there  ceased  to  exist  a  separate  number  of 
Anglican  Missions,  and  a  new  national  Church  with 
representative  and  self-governing  powers  —  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church  in  China  —  was  born.  Thus 
the  last  Conference  of  the  Anglican  Mission  work 
ers  in  China  became  the  first  Synod  of  the  Chung 
Hua  Sheng  Kung  Hui. 

Its  Character  and  Scope.  Three  new  dioceses  had 
been  added  since  the  Conference  in  1909,  Kwangsi 
and  Hunan  (English),  Honan  (Canadian),  and 
Wuhu  (American).  Eleven  dioceses  comprised 
the  new  Church,  scattered  over  all  but  five  or  six 
of  the  provinces  of  China.  Of  these,  three  were 
American. 

The  meaning  of  this  step  for  the  home  base  was 
summed  up  by  the  Editor  of  the  Spirit  of  Missions: 
"Of  course  this  change  does  not  mean  that  there 
will  be  an  immediate  transformation  in  missionary 
methods  or  personnel.  The  Churches  of  England, 
Canada,  and  America  will  still  send  their  mission 
aries  and  their  offerings — we  hope  to  a  larger  de 
gree  than  ever  before,  for  the  infant  Church  in 
China  will  need  much  nourishment  and  guidance. 
But  a  beginning  has  been  made,  and  as  the  years 
go  on  it  may  be  hoped  that  there  will  grow  up  in 
China  a  national  Church  more  and  more  adequate 
to  the  needs  of  the  nation ;  better  able  each  year  to 
win  men  to  the  allegiance  of  Christ." 


THE   REVOLUTION   AND    THE    OUTLOOK 

1911 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  REVOLUTION  AND  THE   OUTLOOK 

1911 

The  Outbreak.  The  most  significant  political 
event  that  has  occurred  since  Christian  Missions 
have  been  at  work  in  China  has  been  the  Revolu 
tion  of  1911.  By  it,  in  less  than  five  months, 
earth's  oldest  empire  has  become  its  newest  repub 
lic.  There  had  been  nearly  a  score  of  unsuccessful 
revolutions  before  this  one  set  China  free  from  the 
domination  of  the  corrupt  Manchu  regime.  The 
storm  which  broke  out  in  Wuchang  on  the  night  of 
October  llth  had  been  gathering  for  many  years. 
Especially  since  the  death  of  the  Empress  Dowager 
in  1908  the  movement  toward  a  revolution  had  been 
gathering  much  momentum,  though  its  power  and 
proximity  were  little  suspected  by  foreigners,  and 
when  the  fighting  began  it  was  a  matter  of  great 
surprise.  China  had  become  impatient  for  reform. 
The  many  ills  that  had  been  patiently  tolerated  for 
decades  became  at  last  unbearable. 

For  the  centuries  during  which  the  Manchu 
dynasty  had  ruled  China  it  had  governed  for 
the  profit  and  pleasure  of  its  rulers — indifferent  to 
the  cry  for  justice  and  mercy — deaf  to  the  cries 

33i 


332         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

of  the  famine  stricken,  oppressed  and  starving 
people.  The  gold  brought  as  tribute  from  the 
provinces  provided  the  marble  playgrounds  and 
the  gilded  palaces  for  emperors  and  empresses  and 
their  favorites,  but  accomplished  nothing  for  the 
uplift  and  improvement  of  the  people.  At  last, 
however  the  demand  for  freedom,  for  the  right  to 
develop  country  and  individual,  made  itself  felt  in 
a  successful  revolution. 

The  quickness  with  which  the  revolution  accom 
plished  its  immediate  purpose  was  amazing,  but  it 
showed  clearly  that  the  old  tree  of  Manchu  govern 
ment  was  thoroughly  rotten,  and  when  once  the  axe 
was  applied  it  was  soon  cut  down.1 

Attitude  of  Revolutionists  Toward  Foreigners. 
"We  will  not  harm  you,"  the  Revolutionists  said 
on  the  night  of  October  llth  in  Wuchang  as  the 
American  missionaries  rushed  out  to  ascertain  the 
cause  of  the  fighting  in  the  streets,  "we  simply 
want  to  change  our  government  and  be  free  like 
you  are."  Throughout  the  Revolution  the  attitude 
of  marked  consideration  toward  Missions  and  mis 
sionaries  made  the  uprising  an  entirely  different 

1  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  China's  quickly  adjusting 
herself  to  a  republic  after  four  thousand  years  of  monarchy 
are  many  and  we  cannot  expect  to  see  suddenly  appear  a  well 
settled  government  It  took  this  United  States  seven  years 
to  gain  independence  and  six  years  more  to  adopt  a  Con- 
situation  and  establish  a  republic,  and  it  may  take  a  long  time 
for  China  to  "find  herself."  It  is  impossible  to  prophesy  what 
the  new  government  of  China  will  be.  But  whatever  form 
of  government  the  new  China  takes  it  will  always  be  a  "new 
China."  So  wide-spread  is  the  awakening  that  there  cannot 
be  any  permanent  reaction  to  anti-progressive  policies. 


'The  Revolution  and  the  Outlook  333 

one  from  the  Boxer  movement  in  its  effects  upon 
foreign  missions. 

Interference  With  the  Work.  Hankow  and 
vicinity  was  the  main  battle-field  for  two  months 
and  so  the  regular  work  was  largely  at  a  standstill. 
In  Wuchang  all  of  our  institutions  were  closed  for 
several  months.  The  most  terrible  act  of  the  war, 
apart  from  the  initial  massacre  of  Manchus,  was 
the  burning  of  the  native  city  of  Hankow  by  the 
Northern  army.  By  this  act  many  Chinese  were 
rendered  homeless  and  practically  penniless,  and 
many  Chinese  Christians  suffered  grievously. 

The  Church  and  the  Revolution.  But  while 
regular  work  ceased,  there  was  much  that  the  Mis 
sion  in  the  afflicted  center  could  accomplish.  The 
existing  hospitals  proved  far  too  few  for  the  care 
of  the  wounded  and  among  the  other  buildings 
turned  into  temporary  hospitals  was  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  Hankow,  which  served  for  this  work  of 
mercy  for  six  weeks.  Dr.  John  MacWillie  of  St. 
Peter's  Hospital,  Wuchang,  was  president  of  the 
local  Red  Cross  Society.  With  those  of  his  fellow 
workers  in  the  Mission  who  had  been  allowed  to 
remain  in  Hankow,  often  at  great  risk  of  their  lives, 
he  rendered  conspicuous  service  in  searching  out  and 
caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded  and  in  burying 
the  great  numbers  left  dead  upon  the  battle-fields. 
The  workers  who  remained  in  Hankow  in  those 
days  seemed  to  live  charmed  lives,  for  though  shells 
were  bursting  overhead  and  bullets  whizzed  by 
them,  no  one  was  injured.  The  hospitals  provided 


334         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

an  excellent  opportunity  for  evangelistic  work  and 
foreigners  and  Divinity  School  students  were  en 
abled  to  bring  the  message  of  the  Saviour's  love  to 
those  who  otherwise  would  never  have  heard  it. 

The  Meaning  of  the  Revolution.  The  revolution 
was  more  than  a  change  in  politics.  It  has  meant 
a  complete  turn-about-face  in  everything.  The 
changes  that  followed,  the  adoption  of  our  Western 
solar  calendar,  the  cutting  off  of  the  cue,  are  but 
outward  indications  of  a  thorough  mental  conver 
sion.  China  may  be  no  longer  characterized  as 
looking  backward  but  as  looking  forward.  Her 
old  antagonism  to  everything  from  the  West  has 
given  place  to  a  desire  to  learn,  and  to  learn  as 
quickly  as  possible,  from  the  nations  of  Europe  and 
America  the  things  that  have  made  them  strong; 
the  things  which  she  realizes  Japan  has  learned  so 
well.  The  old  wall  of  opposition  has  broken  down 
and  China  is  sitting  for  awhile  at  the  feet  of  the 
Western  world.  She  is  in  a  period  of  transition — 
standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  great  industrial,  edu 
cational  and  commercial  revolution.  We  see: 

"The  new  age  that  stands  as  yet 
Half  built  against  the  sky 
Open  to  every  threat 
Of  storms  that  clamor  by. 
While  scaffolding  veils  the  walls, 
And  thick  dust  floats  and  falls, 
As  moving  to  and  fro 
Their  tasks  the  masons  ply." 


The  Revolution  and  the  Outlook  335 

The  Old  Religions.  Buddhism,  Taoism  and  Con 
fucianism,  the  old  lights  of  China,  have  lost  their 
power  to  uplift  and  to  inspire.  The  temples  and 
monasteries  are  being  deserted  and  turned  into 
government  buildings.  The  idols  are  being  turned 
out  and  destroyed.  The  young  men  of  the  new 
China  are  branding  Confucianism  as  the  cause  of 
China's  stagnation  and  backwardness.  We  see  in 
China  the  strange  sight  of  the  great  ship  of  state 
sailing  out  into  unknown  seas  with  no  pilot  on 
board. 

Attitude  Toward  Christianity.  "Men  say,"  said 
Sun  Yat  Sen  the  first  provisional  President  of  the 
Chinese  Republic,  "that  I  am  responsible  for  this 
Revolution.  I  do  not  deny  the  charge  but  where 
did  the  idea  of  the  Revolution  come  from.  It  came, 
because  from  my  earliest  years  [he  was  as  a  boy 
a  pupil  in  the  Church  of  England  School  in  Hono 
lulu]  I  have  associated  with  the  missionaries  of 
Europe  and  America  who  put  new  ideas  of  liberty 
and  justice  into  my  heart/'  And  again  he  said: 
"I  call  upon  the  Churches  to  help  in  the  establish 
ment  of  a  new  government.  The  Republic  cannot 
endure  unless  there  is  that  virtue  and  righteous 
ness  for  which  the  Christian  religion  stands  at  the 
center  of  the  Nation's  life.  There  is  nothing  to  in 
terfere  with  its  bounding  forward  to  take  the  land 
for  Christ." 

The  present  President,  Yuan  Shin  Kai,  while  not 
a  Christian  contributes  annually  to  missionary 
work.  He  has  publicly  expressed  the  hope  that 


336         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

the  new  China  may  be  built  upon  the  foundations 
of  Christianity  as  the  old  China  was  built  on  the 
foundations  of  Confucianism.  A  prominent  Chinese 
official  expressed  recently  the  new  attitude  on  the 
part  of  many  of  China's  leaders  today  when  he 
said :  "Confucianism  has  supplied  China  with  pre 
cepts  in  the  past,  but  China  imperatively  needs 
Christianity  today  to  supply  her  with  moral  power. 
Many  are  turning  toward  Christianity  today  as 
the  hope  of  China ;  it  is  a  sign  of  the  times." 

China's  Appeal  to  Christianity.  The  27th  day  of 
April,  1913,  was  the  greatest  triumph  day  of  Chris 
tianity  in  modern  times.  On  that  day  the  govern 
ment  of  China  deliberately  turned  away  from  its 
partial  and  false  systems  of  religion  and  rejected 
them  as  useless  and  powerless  to  save  her  now  by 
appealing  to  the  Christian  Church  for  help,  and 
asking  it  to  make  the  day  a  day  of  prayer  for  the 
new  China. 

Officials  throughout  the  Empire  were  bidden  by 
telegraph  to  repair  to  the  Christian  churches  on  that 
day  to  unite  with  Christians  in  worship.  Thirteen 
years  ago  the  order  from  Pekin  was  to  extermi 
nate  Christianity  and  thousands  of  native  Christians 
went  to  martyrs'  deaths.  Today  this  vast  people, 
one  third  of  the  human  race,  in  the  persons  of  its 
leaders  turns  blindly  to  the  once  despised  Christian 
Church  for  help.  Many  Christians  are  today  in 
positions  of  high  influence  and  power  in  the  land 
where  a  few  years  since,  Christians  were  at  the  best 
simply  tolerated  and  at  the  worst  killed  by  awful 


The  Revolution  and  the  Outlook  337 

tortures.  Was  ever  the  prophecy  more  strikingly 
fulfilled :  "The  sons  of  them  that  afflicted  thee  shall 
come  bending  unto  thee"? 

The  Opportunity.  This  appeal  is  more  than  a 
triumph,  it  is  a  challenge.  The  doors  are  wide  open 
in  China  today.  The  Church  has  not  had  the  faith 
adequately  to  foresee  and  prepare  for,  the  demand 
now  made  upon  it.  The  work  done  has  been  well 
done  but  where  we  have  a  mere  few  dozen  native 
clergymen,  we  ought  to  have  hundreds.  Where  we 
have  scores  of  catechists  we  should  have  hundreds. 
Where  we  have  sent  out  a  few  groups  of  Christian 
young  men  into  public  service,  we  ought  to  have 
prepared  and  sent  out  thousands.  And  still  the  task 
continues.  The  new  China  will  be  molded  in  the 
next  twenty  years,  and  until  it  becomes  fixed,  a 
unique  opportunity  still  awaits  the  Christian 
Church.  The  new  China  will  probably  see  one  of 
three  things :  the  patriotic  revival  of  one  of  the 
old  national  religions;  the  supplanting  of  all 
religion  by  agnosticism;  largely  through  the  influ 
ence  of  Japan  ;  or  the  rise  and  spread  of  Christianity. 
Which  is  it  to  be?  It  is  for  the  Church  at  home 
to  decide.  Will  Christianity  use  this  opportunity  to 
win  a  great  land  and  people  for  Christ?  It  has  been 
well  said,  "God  has  melted  the  old  China.  Who 
will  mould  the  new?" 

Foreign  Agencies  at  Work  in  China.  Other 
activities  are  seeing  the  open  door  and  entering  in. 
We  are  sending  foreign  merchandise  to  China — 
not  only  in  China  but  far  away  in  Thibet,  where 


338         The  Story  of  the  Church  in  China 

Christianity  is  still  prohibited,  American  oil  has 
found  its  way.  A  foreign  tobacco  firm  which 
believes  in  advertising  distributed  free  recently 
$5,000,000  worth  of  American  cigarettes  in  China. 
We  are  sending  foreign  vices  to  China.  In  Hankow 
a  great  foreign  distillery  has  been  opened  which 
turns  out  daily  two  thousands  gallons  of  whiskey 
for  sale  to  the  Chinese  in  a  city  where  before  this 
one  might  live  for  years  and  never  see  a  drunken 
Chinese.  In  the  cities  of  China,  American  gamblers 
and  unfortunate  women  from  this  land  are  daily 
representing  America  to  the  alert  Chinese.  Is  the 
Church  alone  to  hold  back?  There  is  no  question 
whether  there  is  to  be  a  new  China  or  not.  There 
is  no  question  to-day  whether  the  East  is  to  be 
westernized  or  not.  The  only  question  is,  whether 
this  touch  of  the  West  upon  the  East  is  to  be 
Christianized  or  not.  It  is  a  time  above  all  others 
to  send  to  our  Mission  in  China,  face  to  face  with 
this  crisis,  the  reinforcements  and  the  equipment 
it  greatly  needs. 

Give  Ye  Them  to  Eat.  On  a  summer's  day  in 
Galilee  long  ago  when  the  multitude  that  had  gathered 
about  Him  were  hungering  in  the  wilderness,  the  dis 
ciples  besought  the  Master  that  He  would  send 
them  away  to  their  homes,  but  He  said  to  them: 
"They  need  not  depart,  give  ye  them  to  eat." 
And  then  He  took  the  little  that  they  had  and  so 
mightily  blessed  it  that  proved  enough,  and  more 
than  enough,  for  that  great  throng.  So  today 
Christ  is  saying  to  His  Church  as  He  points  to  the 


The  Revolution  and  the  Outlook  339 

myriads  in  China  hungering  for  the  Bread  of  Life, 
"they  need  not  depart,  give  ye  them  to  eat."  He 
can  and  will  take  what  we  have  to  offer;  gifts  of 
life,  prayer,  influence,  money,  of  which  for  a  little 
while  we  are  stewards,  and  use  them  for  the  feed 
ing  and  the  salvation  of  China's  millions. 


At  the  General  Convention  of  1913  the  name  of  tKe  District 
of  Wuhu  was  changed  to  Anking. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDICES 
LIST  OF  MISSIONARIES. 

The  letter  (S.)  indicates  that  the  person  after  whose  name  it  appears  is  now 
a  member  of  the  staff  in  the  District  of  Shanghai;  the  letter  (H.)  indicates 
membership  in  the  staff  of  the  District  of  Hankow,  and  the  letter  (A.)  indicates 
membership  in  the  staff  of  the  District  of  Anking. 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1835    Rev.  Henry  Lockwood.  1839 

Died  November,  1883. 

Rev.  Francis  R.  Hanson.  1838 

1837     Rev.  William  Jones  Boone. 

Consecrated  Bishop,  1844. 
Died  July,  1864. 
Mrs.  Boone. 

Died  August,  1842. 
1845     Mrs.  Boone  2d. 

Died  January,  1864. 

Miss  Eliza  Gillette.  1845 

Rev.  Henry  W.  and  Mrs.  Wood.  1845 

Rev.  Richardson  and  Mrs.  Graham.  1847 

Rev.  Edward  W.  Syle.  1861 

Died  1890. 
Mrs.  Syle. 

Died  1859. 
Miss  Emma  G.  Jones.  1861 

Died  1879. 
Miss  Mary  J.  Morse.  1852 

Died  1888. 

1847     Rev.  Phineas  D.  Spalding. 
Lost  at  sea,  1849. 

1850  Miss  Caroline  Tenney. 

(Mrs.  Keith.) 
Died  1862. 

1851  Miss  Lydia  Mary  Fay. 

Died  1878. 

341 


342  Appendix  A 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1851     Rev.  Robert  Nelson.  1881 

Died  1886. 
Mrs.  Nelson.  1881 

Died  1885. 
Rev.  Cleveland  Keith. 

Died  1862. 
John  T.  Points.  1856 

1853  Miss  Catherine  E.  Jones. 

Died  1863. 

1854  Miss  Emma  J.  Wray.  1855 
Miss  Jeannette  R.  Conover. 

(Afterward  Mrs.  Elliot  H.  Thomson.) 
Died  1889. 

1855  M.  W.  Fish,  M  D.  1856 
Mrs.  Fish.  1856 

1856  Rev.  John  Liggins. 

Appointed  to  Japan,  1859. 

Died,  1912. 
Rev.  Charming  M.  Williams. 

Appointed  to  Japan,  1859. 

Consecrated  Bishop,  1866. 
1859     Rev.  Henry  M.  Parker. 

Killed  in  Chefoo,  1861. 

Mrs.  Parker.  1861 

Rev.  Elliot  H.  Thomson.     (S.) 
Rev.  Dudley  D.  Smith.  1863 

Mrs.  Smith. 

Died  1862. 

Rev.  Thomas  S.  Yocum.  1860 

Rev.  Samuel  I.  J.  Schereschewsky. 

Consecrated  Bishop,  1877. 

Resigned  as  Bishop,  1883. 

Died  1906. 

Rev.  Henry  Purdon.  1860 

J.  T.  Doyen.  i86* 

1 86 1     Mrs.  Jane  Doyen.  J86l 

Mr.  Edward  Hubbell.  1861 


Appendix  A  343 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1866  Rev.  Augustus  E.  Hohine.  1876 

Died  1885. 
Mrs.  Hohing. 
Died  1867. 

1867  Miss  Susan  M.  Waring. 

(Afterward  Mrs.  Schereschewsky.} 
Died  1909. 

1869  Rev.  Samuel  R.  J.  Hoyt.  1881 
Mrs.  Hoyt.  1881 

1870  Rev.  Wm.  Jones  Boone,  Jr. 

Consecrated  Bishop,  1884. 
Died  1891. 
Mrs.  Boone. 

Died  1875. 

1874     Rev.  Francis  H.  Strieker.  1875 

Albert  C.  Bunn,  M.  D.  1879 

Mrs.  Bunn. 

Died  1878. 
1876     Miss  Henrietta  F.  Harris.  1892 

(Afterward  Mrs.  W.  J.  Boone.) 
Miss  Mary  C.  Nelson.  1881 

1878     Rev.  Daniel  M.  Bates.  1881 

Died  1901. 

Mrs.  Bates.  1881 

Rev.  William  S.  Sayres.  I88i 

Mrs.  Sayres. 

Died  1880. 
:t88o     Miss  Josephine  Roberts.     (S.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  F.  R.  Graves.) 
Henry  W.  Boone,  M.  D.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Boone. 

Died  1 88 1. 

1881     Wm.  A.  Deas,  M.  D.  1890 

Rev.  Frederick  R.  Graves.     (S.) 

Consecrated  Bishop,  1893. 
Edwin  K.  Buttles.  1882 


344  Appendix  A 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1 88 1  Miss  Anna  Stevens.  1886 

(Afterward  the  second  Mrs.  Sayres.) 
Miss  Elizabeth  K.  Boyd. 
Died  1882. 

1882  Rev.  Herbert  Sowerby.  1894 
Mrs.  Sowerby.  1894 
Miss  Martha  Bruce.  1884 
Miss  Sara  Lawsoti.                                                 1887 

(Afterward  Mrs.  Edgar  M.  Griffiths.) 

1883  Rev.  George  H.  Appleton.  1884 
Mrs.  Appleton.                                                       1884 
Rev.  Arthur  H.  Locke.                                          1892 
Mrs.  Locke. 

Died  1890. 
Miss  Esther  A.  Spencer. 

Died  1891. 
Mrs.  Kate  J.  Sayers.  1887 

1884  Miss  Jessie  A.  Purple. 

Died  1887. 
Rev.  Sidney  C.  Partridge.  1900 

Consecrated  Bishop  of  Kyoto,  Japan,  1900. 

Translated  to  the  Diocese  of  Kansas  City  191 1 
Mrs.  Partridge. 

Died  1886. 

1885  Edgar  M.  Griffiths,  M.  D.  1887 

1886  Rev.  Francis  L.  H.  Pott.     (S.) 

Thomas  Protheroe.  1888 

1888  Marie  Haslep,  M.  D.  1896 
Percy  Mathews,  M.  D.  1895 
Mrs.  Mathews.  1895 
Miss  Steva  L.  Dodson.     (S.) 

1889  Samuel  E.  Smalley.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Smalley.     (S.) 

1891     Edward  Merrins,  M.  D.  1898 

Rev.  James  Addison  Ingle. 

Consecrated  Bishop  of  Hankow,  1902. 
Died  1903. 


Appendix  A  345 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1891     Rev.  Robert  K.  Massie.  1895 

Mrs.  Massie.  1895 

1893  Miss  Florence  McRae.  1899 
Rev.  Henry  C.  Collins,  M.  D.  1900 
Miss  Georgia  Starr.  1894 

1894  Frederick  C.  Cooper.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Cooper.     (S.) 

Miss  Lily  F.  Ward. 

Died  1897. 
Miss  Lillis  Crummer. 

Died  1910. 
Mrs.  J.  A.  Ingle.  1904 

1895  Rev.  D.  Trumbull  Huntington.     (A.) 

Consecrated  Bishop  of  the  District  of 

Wuhu  in  1912. 
Wm.  L.  Ludlow,  M.  D.  1897 

1896  Rev.  James  L.  Rees.  1904 
Mrs.  Rees.                                                              1904 
Rev.  Gouverneur  F.  Mosher.     (S.) 

Miss  Gertrude  Mosher,  Deaconess.  1900 

Rev.  Logan  H.  Roots.     (H.) 

Consecrated  Bishop  of  Hankow,  1904. 
Mary  J.  Gates,  M.  D.  1900 

1897  George  W.  Cooper.  1901 

1898  Rev.  Laurence  B.  Ridgely.     (H.) 
Mrs.  Ridgely.     (H.) 

Mrs.  G.  F.  Mosher.     (S.) 

Rev.  Robert  E.  Wood.     (H.) 

Rev.  S.  Harrington  Littell.     (H.) 

Robert  Borland,  M.  D.  1906 

Mrs.  Borland.  1906 

1898  Rev.  Franz  E.  Lund.     (A.) 
Rev.  Carl  F.  Lindstrom.     (A.) 
Mary  V.  Glenton,  M.  D.     (H.) 
Miss  Annette  B.  Richmond.     (S.) 

1899  Miss  Pauline  A.  Osgood.  1906 


346  Appendix  A 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1899  Rev.  Cameron  F.  McRae.     (S.) 
Rev.  Benjamin  L.  Ancell.     (S.) 
Charles  S.  F.  Lincoln,  M.  D.     (S.) 

Miss  Charley  Warnock.  1903 

Miss  Eliza  L.  McCook.    (H.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  L.  H.  Roots.) 
Rev.  Arthur  M.  Sherman.     (H.) 
Edmund  L.  Woodward,  M.  D.     (A.) 
Miss  Mary  E.  Wood.     (H.) 

1900  Rev.  James  Jackson,  D.  D.     (H.) 
Mrs.  Jackson.     (H.) 

Wm.  McCarthy.     (A.) 
Mrs.  McCarthy.     (A.) 

1901  William  H.  Jefferys,  M.  D.\ 
Mrs.  Jefferys. 

Miss  Ann  E.  Byerly.     (H) 
Miss  Charlotte  Mason.     (H.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  S.  H.  Littdl.) 

Died  1913. 

Giles  B.  Palmer.  1907 

Miss  Gertrude  Carter.     (H.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  A.  A.  Oilman.) 
Juliet  N.  Stevens,  M.  D.  I9°4 

1902  Rev.  Edmund  J.  Lee.     (A.) 
M.  Panderell  Walker.     (S.) 
Rev.  Alfred  A.  Gilman.     (H.) 
Rev.  Robert  C.  Wilson.     (S.) 

Mrs.  Lilian  P.  Fredericks.  I9IQ 

Miss  Williette  W.  Eastham.     (S.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  C.  S.  F.  Lincoln.) 

1902  Rev.  John  W.  Nichols.     (S.) 

Rev.  Fleming  James.  I9°6 

Miss  Alice  M.  Clark.     (H.) 

1903  Rev.  A.  R.  Van  Meter.     (H.)  I9<V 
Mrs.  Van  Meter.     (H.)  190? 
Miss  Ida  N.  Porter.     (S.) 


Appendix  A  347 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1903  Miss  Rose  M.  El  win.     (S.) 

Mrs.  Fleming  James.     (S.)  1906 

Rev.  Amos  Goddard.     (A.) 

Rev.  Paul  Maslin.     (H.) 

Deaconess  M.  T.  Henderson.  1907 

Miss  Marion  S.  Mitchell.     (S.) 

1904  Rev.  Arthur  S.  Mann. 

Died  1907. 

Miss  Sarah  Rhett.     (S.) 
(Afterward  Mrs.  R.  C.  Wilson.) 
Miss  Carrie  M.  Palmer.  1910 

Lewis  S.  Palen.  1905 

1905  Harry  B.  Taylor,  M.  D.     (A.) 
Rev.  Albert  Seth  Cooper.     (H.) 

Howard  Richards,  Jr.  1911 

Miss  L.  E.  Willey.     (H.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  P.  T.  Maslin.) 
Angie  M.  Myers,  M.  D.  1913 

James  H.  George.  1906 

John  MacWillie,  M.  D.     (H.) 
Mrs.  MacWillie.     (H.) 
Miss  Sarah  N.  Woodward.     (S.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  C.  F.  McRae). 
Miss  Mary  A.  Hill.     (S.) 
Deaconess  Theodora  L.  Paine.     (H.) 
Deaconess  Katharine  E.  Phelps.     (H.) 
Miss  Mary  R.  Ogden.     (A.) 

Richard  D.  Shipman.  1906 

Rev.  William  H.  Standring. 

Died  1910. 

2905    Miss  Margaret  E.  Bender.     (S.) 
Miss  Susan  H.  Higgins.     (H.) 
Miss  Elizabeth  Barber.     (A.) 

1906  Claude  M.  Lee,  M.  D.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Lee.     (S.) 
Deaconess  Edith  Hart.     (H.) 


Appendix  A 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1906  Deaconess  Gertrude  Stewart.     (H.) 
George  N.  Steiger.     (S.) 

Robert  A.  Kemp.     (H.) 

Pearson  Bannister.  1908 

Augustine  W.  Tucker,  M.  D.     (S.) 

Rev.  George  F.  Bambach.  1906 

Mrs.  Amos  Goddard.     (H.) 

1907  Weston  O'B.  Harding. 

Died  1909. 

Montgomery  H.  Throop.     (S.) 
Julian  N.  Major.     (S.) 
Rev.  Thomas  L.  Sinclair.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Sinclair.     (S.) 
John  A.  Wilson.     (H.) 
Miss  Sada  C.  Tomlinson 

(On  leave  1909-1913.) 

Robert  E.  Browning  1910 

William  C.  Martin  1908 

1908  Miss  Ann  R.  Torrence.     (S.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  W.  H.  Standring). 
Ellen  C.  Fullerton,  M.  D.     (S.) 
Miss  Lucy  J.  Graves.     (S.) 
Rev.  Percy  R.  Stockman.     (H.) 
Mrs.  Stockman.     (H.) 
Rev.  E.  H.  Fitzgerald. 

Died  1908. 

Rev.  John  C.  Dean.  1911 

Edward  M.  Merrins,  M.  D.     (H.) 

Reappointed. 
Mrs.  Merrins.     (H.) 
T.  J.  Hollander  (H.) 
Everard  P.  Miller,  Jr.     (H.) 

Miss  Louise  L.  Phelps.  I9IQ 

Miss  Rebecca  R.  Halsey.  1909 

Miss  Anna  S.  Tattershall. 

(Afterward  Mrs.  J.  C.  Dean.) 
Mrs.  Yun  Jin  Lam. 


Appendix  A  349 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1908  Rev.  J.  M.  Banister  Gill.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Gill.     (S.) 

1909  Rev.  Henry  A.  McNulty.     (S.) 
Rev.  Robert  A.  Griesser.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Griesser.     (S.) 

Rev.  Joseph  L.  Meade.  1911 

Rollin  A.  Sawyer,  Jr.  1912 

Henry  James  Post.  1912 

James  T.  Addison.  1910 

Horace  Gray.  1910 

Miss  Sarah  H.  Reid.     (S.) 
Miss  Annie  W.  Cheshire.     (S.) 
Deaconess  Edith  C.  Piper.     (S.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  Henry  A.  McNulty.) 
Rev.  Dudley  Tyng.     (H.) 

James  H.  Sowerby,  M.  D.  1910 

J.  W.  Fell.     (H.) 
Miss  Alice  F.  Gates.     (H.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  Robert  A.  Kemp.) 
Miss  Elizabeth  T.  Cheshire.     (H.) 

(Afterward  Mrs.  A.  S.  Cooper.) 
Miss  E.  M.  A.  Cartwright.     (S.) 
Miss  Anita  A.  Boone.     (S.) 

1910  Rev.  Thomas  K.  Nelson.     (S.) 
Haroid  B.  Barton  (S.) 

Rev.  Robert  A.  Goodwin,  Jr.     (A.) 

Mrs.  Goodwin.     (A.) 

Rev.  Frederick  G.  Deis.     (H.) 

Mrs.  Deis.     (H.) 

Miss  Sarah  £.  Hop  wood.     (A.) 

Deaconess  Emily  L.  Ridgely.     (H.) 

Harold  H.  Morris,  M.  D.     (S.) 

Mrs.  Morris.     (S.) 

Percy  L.  Urban.     (S.) 

Miss  Caroline  Fullerton.     (S.) 

Miss  Edith  Kay.     (H.) 


3  50  Appendix  A 

Arrived  Withdrew 

1910  Miss  Lucy  F.  Baker. 

(Afterward  Mrs.  Everard  P.  Miller,  Jr.)     (H.) 

1911  Rev.  Edward  R.  Dyer.     (S.) 
W.  F.  M.  Borrman.     (S.) 
Miss  Elizabeth  Nichols. 

(Afterward  Mrs.  M.  H.  Throop.)     (S.) 
Miss  Anne  F.  Gordon.     (S.) 
Rev.  Clarence  Fletcher  Howe.     (H.) 
Miss  Katharine  E.  Scott.     (H.) 
Rev.  Theodore  R.  Ludlow.     (H.) 
Mrs.  Ludlow.     (H.) 
Gulielma  F.  Alsop,  M.  D.     (S.) 

1912  Rev.  John  G.  Magee.     (S.) 
Rev.  Walworth  Tyng.     (H.) 

Rev.  Gilbert  L.  Pennock  1912 

Joseph  F.  Putnam.     (S.) 

Mrs.  Putnam.     (S.) 

Miss  Margaret  Hart  Bailey.     (S.) 

Miss  Ada  Whitehouse.     (H.) 

Miss  Grace  Hutchins.     (H.) 

Miss  Evelyn  A.  Taber.     (H.) 

Rev.  Edward  K.  Thurlow.     (A.) 

Mrs.  Thurlow.     (A.) 

Miss  Laura  E.  Lenhart.     (S.) 

Harley  F.  MacNair.     (S.) 

Rev.  Edward  Walker.     (H.) 

Miss  Louise  L.  Phelps  (reappointed).     (H.) 

1913  Rev.  Thomas  Bowyer  Campbell.     (S.) 
William  S.  A.  Pott.     (S.) 

Cecil  Dabney,  M.  D.     (S.) 
Mrs.  Dabney.     (S.) 
Charles  F.  Remer.     (S.) 
Lester  E.  Cook.     (S.) 
John  R.  Norton.     (S.) 
Miss  Annie  Brown.     (S.) 
Miss  Mary  A.  Bremer.     (S.) 


Appendix  A  35  l 


Arrived 


1913     Miss  Louise  S.  Hammond.     (S.) 
Miss  Elizabeth  S.  Chisholm.     (S.) 
Rev.  Walter  F.  Hayward,  Jr.     (H.) 
Rev.  Edmund  L.  Souder.     (H.) 
Arthur  S.  Kean.     (H.) 
Deaconess  Julia  A.  Clark.     (H.) 
Miss  Ida  J.  Morrison.     (H.) 
Miss  M.  R.  Waddffl.     (H.) 
Miss  Sada  C.  Tomlinson  (reappointed).     (W.) 
Mrs.  M.  Penderell  Walker.     (S.) 


352  Appendix  B 

Appendix  B 

CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  MISSION 
Dates 

1834 
May    14.   Board  of  Missions  votes  to  establish  a  mission 

in  China. 
July     14.   Rev.  Henry  Lockwood  appointed. 

1835 

March.       Rev.  Francis  R.  Hanson  appointed. 

June      2.    Departure  of  missionaries. 

Oct.       4.   Missionaries  reach  Canton. 

Dec.    22.   Arrival  in  Batavia. 
1836 

Feb.     17.   Marriage  of  Mr.  Lockwood. 

Aug.  9.  Death  of  Mrs.  Lockwood.  (Miss  Sophia  Med- 
hurst,  daughter  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Medhurst  of 
London  Missionary  Society.) 

1837 

Jan.     17.   Rev.  William  J.  Boone,  M.D.,  appointed. 
July      8.   Dr.  and  Mrs.  Boone  sail. 
Oct.     22.   The  Boones  reach  Batavia. 
Mr.  Hanson  retires. 

1839 

Jan.  Boys'  School  in  Batavia  reorganized. 

April     6.   Mr.  Lockwood  retires. 
1841 

Mission  removes  to  Macao. 
1842 
Feb.  Removal  to  Amoy.     Five  treaty-ports  opened  in 

China. 
Aug.    30.   Death  of  Mrs.  Boone. 

1843 

Dr.  Boone  goes  to  America  (spring.) 

Nov.    14.   Miss  Eliza  Gillette  appointed. 

1844 
Oct.     26.   Dr.  Boone  consecrated  Bishop  of  China. 


Appendix  B  353 

Dates 
1844 

Dec.  4.  Mission  party  sails:  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Boone,  Rev. 
Henry  W.  and  Mrs.  Wood,  Rev.  Richardson 
and  Mrs.  Graham,  Miss  Gillette,  Miss  Morse, 
Miss  Emma  G.  Jones. 

1845 

April  24.    Missionaries  reach  Hongkong. 

June    17.    Mission  established  at  Shanghai. 

Nov.    19.    Rev.  E.  W.  and  Mrs.  Syle  arrive. 

The  Woods  retire. 
1846 

Easter  Day.     First  Baptism:    Wong  Kong-chai. 
1847 

Jan.     1 6.    The  Grahams  retire. 

Aug.    28.    Rev.  P.  D.  Spalding  arrives. 
1848 

Oct,     22.   Yen  Yung-Kiung  baptized. 
1849 

Sept.  Death  of  Mr.  Spalding. 

1850 

Jan.       6.    Christ  Church,  Shanghai  native  city,  consecrated 

Aug.      2.    Arrival  of  Miss  Tenney. 
1851 

March.        Arrival  of  Miss  Fay. 

Dec.    25.    Arrival   of   Rev.    Robert  and   Mrs.    Nelson,    Mr. 

Keith,  Mr.  Points. 
Miss  Morse  retires. 

Sept.      7.    Wong  Kong-chai  ordained  deacon. 

Dec.    31.    Girls'  boarding-school  opened  in  Shanghai. 

1853 

Jan.     30.    Arrival  of  Mis?  C.  Jones. 
Feb.  Mrs.    Wong    baptized.     (The    first    girl    in    Miss 

Jones'  School.) 

Church  of  Our  Saviour,   Shanghai,  built  during 
this  year. 


354 


Appendix  B 


Dates 

1853 
Sept. 

1854 
April 
April 

1855 

Aug. 
1856 

Jan. 

June 


1857 


June. 
1858 

Feb. 
1859 


Dec. 


Dec. 
1859 


i860 

1861 
Jan. 
April. 


Tai-pings  infest  Shanghai. 

4.    Arrival  of  Miss  Conover. 

27.  Marriage  of  Mr.  Keith  and  Miss  Tenney. 

3.   Arrival  of  Dr.  Fish, 

I.    Dr.  Fish  resigns. 

28.  Arrival  of  Rev.  C.  M.  Williams  and  Rev.  John 

Liggins. 
Mr.  Points  retires. 

Station  opened  in  Sinza,  District  of  Shanghai. 
A  school  for  blind  established  in  Shanghai. 
Soochow  visited. 

Station  opened  in  Zangzok. 

Zangzok  abandoned. 

Mr.  Liggins  and  Mr.  Williams  appointed  to  Japan. 
21.    Arrival  of  large  party  of  missionaries,  among  them 
Rev.  Elliot  H.  Thomson  and  Rev.  Samuel  I.  J. 
Schereschewsky. 
28.    Death  of  Mrs.  Syle. 

During   this  year  a  riot  in  Shanghai.     Mission 

church  damaged. 
Agreement  concerning  Episcopal  jurisdiction  with 

the  English  Church. 

Renewed  rebellions  in  China. 

Mr.  Syle  withdraws.     Miss  Emma  Jones  retires. 
Chef oo  opened  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parker,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Smith. 


Appendix  B  355 

Dates 

1861 

Boys'  school,  Shanghai,  closed. 

Oct.  Mr.  Parker  murdered  by  rebels  in  Chefoo. 
1862 

July     10.  Death  of  Mrs.  Keith  in  San  Francisco. 

July     14.  Death  of  Mrs.  Smith  at  Chefoo. 

July    27.  Mr.  Keith  lost  in  the  Durning  of  S.  S.  Golden  Gate. 

July.  Mr.  Schereschewsky  at  Pekin. 
1863 

April.  Mr.  Smith  retires. 
Chefoo  abandoned. 

Nov.      8.  Rev.  Wong  Kong-chai  advanced  to  priesthood. 

Nov.   24.  Death  of  Miss  C.  Jones. 
1864 

Jan.     20.  Death  of  Mrs.  Boone  at  Suez. 

July     17.  Death  of  Bishop  Boone. 

1866 

Oct.       3.    Bishop  Williams  consecrated. 

Hospital  work  begun  in  Shanghai. 
1868 

Jan.     14.    Bishop  Williams  arrives  Shanghai. 

May    17.   Yen  Yung-kiung  ordained  deacon. 
Station  at  Kiang-wan  opened. 

June    22.   Wuchang  opened. 
1869 

Mch.   10.    Bishop  Williams  fixes  his  residence  in  Osaka,  Japan. 
1870 

Jan.       7.   Rev.  W.  J.  Boone  joins  the  mission. 

Oct.     28.    Rev.   W.   J.   Boone   and   Rev.    Yen   Yung-kiung 
advanced  to  the  priesthood. 

Dec.    25.    Chapel  of  the  Nativity  opened  in  Wuchang. 
1871 

Sept.  Boone  School,  Wuchang,  opened. 

1872 

Sept.  Bridgman  School  taken  over  by  the  mission. 


Appendix  B 


Dates 

1873 

May      i. 

1874 

Oct. 


Dec.      3. 

1875 
Oct. 

Nov.    1 6. 
1876 

July. 

Oct. 
Nov.     8. 

1877 

June    14. 

Oct.     31. 
1878 

Jan.     28. 

Oct.       5. 

Dec. 

1879 

April    14. 

Aug. 

Dec.     19. 
1880 

June    25. 

Dec. 
1881 

Jan. 


H.  N.  Woo  ordained  deacon. 

St.  Paul's  Chapel,  Hankow,  opened. 
Bishop  Williams  assigned  to  Japan. 
Rev.  W.  P.  Orrick  elected  bishop  of  China.     De 
clines. 
Dr.  A.  C.  Bunn  arrives  at  Wuchang. 

Rev.    S.    I.    J.    Schereschewsky    elected    bishop. 

Declines. 
Death  of  Mrs.  Boone. 

First  railroad  in  China  opened  between  Shanghai 

and  Kongwang. 

Mr.  Schereschewsky  again  elected  bishop.  Accepts. 
Duane  Hall  and  Divinity  School,  Shanghai,  opened. 
Emma  Jones  School,  Shanghai,  reopened. 

Marriage  of  Rev.  W.  J.  Boone  and  Miss  Harris. 
Bishop  Schereschewsky  consecrated. 

Death  of  Mrs.  Bunn. 

Death  of  Miss  Fay. 

Elizabeth  Bunn  Hospital  opened  in  a  hired  house 

in  Wuchang. 

Property  at  Jessfield,  near  Shanghai,  purchased. 
Cornerstone  of  St.  John's  College,  Shanghai,  laid. 
St.  John's  College  opened. 
St.  Stephen's,  San-tiang-Keu,  consecrated. 

Miss  Roberts  arrives  at  Shanghai. 
St.  Luke's  Hospital,  Shanghai,  opened. 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  Robert  Nelson  and  Miss  Nelson 
retire. 


Appendix  B  357 

Dates 
1881 

Mch.     i.   Dr.  Deas  arrives  at  Wuchang. 
June.          St.  Mary's  Hall,  Shanghai,  opened. 
Aug.    13.    Bishop  Schereschewsky  prostrated  by  sunstroke. 
Dec.    25.    New  Church  of  the  Nativity  in  Wuchang  opened. 
1882 

Station  at  Kia-ding  opened. 
1883 

Sanitariums  opened  at  Chefoo  and  Kiukiang. 
Oct.     24.    Bishop  Schereschewsky  resigns  his  jurisdiction. 

Rev.  George  Worthington  elected  bishop.  Declines. 
1884 

April  24.   Rev.  W.  J.  Boone  elected  bishop.     Accepts. 
June      3.    Corner-stone  of  St.  John's  Church,  Shanghai,  laid. 
Oct.     28.   Bishop  Boone  consecrated. 

Chinkiang  opened. 

Nov.      I.   St.  John's  Church,  Shanghai,  consecrated. 
Dec.     1 8.    Rev.  E.  H.  Thomson  appointed  archdeacon. 
1885 

Oct.       7.   St.  Mary's  Orphanage  opened  at  Shanghai. 
1886 
March.       Station  removed  from  Chinkiang  to  Wuhu. 

Station  at  Shasi  opened. 
Nov.    12.   Death  of  Rev.  Wong  Kong-chai. 
1888 

Jan.       6.    First  ordination  in  Hankow. 
May    ii.    Dr.  Marie  Haslep  reaches  Wuchang. 
Dec.    25.    The  new  St.  Mary's  Hall,  Shanghai,  opened. 
1889 

Station  at  Ichang  opened. 
Sept.    19.    Death  of  Mrs.  Thomson. 

Oct.     28.   New  Church  of  the  Nativity  at  Wuchang  con 
secrated. 
1890 

9.   Ward  for  women  opened  at  St.  Luke's  Hospita 
Shanghai. 


358  Appendix  B 

Dates 

1890 

Oct.  Dr.  Deas  retires. 

1891 

Riots. 

Sept.     2.   Ichang  property  destroyed. 

Oct.       5.    Death  of  Bishop  Boone. 
1892 

Jan.     24.    First  service  held  in  new  St.  Paul 's  Church,  Hankow. 
Bishop  Hare  visits  China. 

1893 
June    14.    Rev.  F.  R.  Graves  consecrated  bishop. 

Woman's   Auxiliary   established  in   Shanghai   by 
Mrs.  Twing. 

1894 
Feb.  First  mission  conference. 

New  building  at  St.  John's  College,  Shanghai. 
May    19.   St,  Peter's  Hospital,  Wuchang,  opened. 
1896 

Training    School    for    Bible-women    opened    at 

Shanghai. 
Feb.  24-28.    Second  mission  conference  at  Shanghai. 

Hospital  work  begun  in  Nganking  (now  Anking). 
1897 
April  1-3.    First  conference  of  Anglican  bishops  at  St.  John's, 

Shanghai. 

Ichang  house  rebuilt. 
Revision  of  Prayer-book  completed. 
1898 

June    20.    Death  of  Rev.  Yen  Yung-kiung. 
Sept.   29.   St.  Paul's  Divinity  School,  Wuchang,  opened. 
1899 

Feb.     ii.   Third  mission  conference  at  Wuchang. 
July     19.   Science  Hall,  St.  John's  College,  opened. 
Oct.     22.    Grace  Church,  Shanghai,  opened. 
Oct.     28.   St.  Peter's  Church,  Shanghai,  consecrated. 
Dec.      7    St.  Hilda's  School,  Wuchang,  opened. 


Appendix  359 


Dates 
1900 

Boxer  year. 
1901 

Station  at  Wusih  opened.     Kiukiang  occupied. 

St.  James's  Hospital,  Anking,  opened. 

District  divided  into  the  Districts  of  Shanghai  and 

Hankow. 
1902 

Feb.    24.    Bishop  Ingle  consecrated  at  Hankow, 
May.  First  conference  of  the  Shanghai  district. 

Oct.  Station  at  Soochow  opened. 

Death  of  Rev.  Y.  T.  Chu. 
1903 

Mch.  17.   St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital,  Shanghai,  opened. 
Dec.      7.   Death  of  Bishop  Ingle. 
1904 

Feb.  10-12.  Second  conference  of  the  Shanghai  district. 
Jan.     23.    New  building  for  St.  Mary's  Orphanage  opened. 
Nov.    13.    Bishop  Roots  consecrated. 

1905 

May     3.   St.  James's  Church,  Wuhu,  consecrated. 

St.  John's  College,  Shanghai,  incorporated  as  a 

university 

Boone  School,  Wuchang,  becomes  Boone  College. 
The     Chinese     Churchman    a    monthly    publica 
tion,  established  and  printed  for  the  first  time. 
1906 
Aug.  3-6.   First  conference  of  the  Foreign  Workers  of  the 

District  of  Hankow  held  at  Kuling. 
Oct.     14.    Death  of  Bishop  Schereschewsky,  of  the  District 

of  Shanghai,  at  Tokyo,  Japan. 
1907 

Apr.  15-20.  Conference  of  the  Anglican  Communion  in  China 
held  in  Shanghai. 

Ma'    *7      f  Centenary  Conference  held  in  Shanghai. 


360  Appendix  B 

Dates 
1908 

Yangchow  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ancell  and 

the  Rev.  Mr.  Sinclair. 
Feb.  First  General  Conference  of  the  District  of  Hankow 

held  in  Hankow. 

Apr.    25.   Kiangsu  Conference  met  and  prepared  a  Constitu 
tion  for  a  Synod  with  regular  representation. 
1909 

Ordination  of  seven  Chinese  deacons  in  the  District 

of  Hankow. 

Apr.  )  27.   Conference  of  the  Anglican  Communion  at  St. 
Mar.  )    4.         John's  University  for  the  organization  of  a 

General  Synod. 
1910 

Boone  College  incorporated  as  a  university. 

Rice  riots  at  Changsha,  which  compelled  the  Rev. 

Mr.  Gilman  to  fly  for  his  life  to  Hankow. 
Erection  of  the  new  Missionary  District  of  Wuhu 
by  the  General  Convention  and  the  election 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  L.  H.  Pott,  President 
of  St.  John's  University,  Shanghai,  as  Bishop 
of  it. 
1911 

Purchase  of  the  Unkaza  property  for  St.  John's 

University. 
Oct.     10.    Outbreak  of  the  Chinese  Rebellion  at  Wuchang, 

in  the  District  of  Wuhu. 

Oct.  26-27.  Special  meeting  of  the  House  of  Bishops  in  New 
York  City  and  the  election  of  the  Rev.  D. 
Trumbull  Huntington,  of  Ichang,  as  Mis 
sionary  Bishop  of  Wuhu  in  the  place  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Pott,  who  did  not  accept. 
1912 

Feb.  12.  Abdication  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  and  the  organi 
zation  of  the  Republic  of  China  with  Yuan 
Shih-kai  as  president. 


Appendix  B  361 

Dates 

1912 

Mar.  25.  The  Rev.  D.  Trumbull  Huntington  consecrated 
Missionary  Bishop  of  Wuhu  at  St.  John's  pro- 
Cathedral,  Shanghai. 

Apr.  11-13.   First  Synod  of  the  District  of  Wuhu  met  in  Wuhu. 

Apr.  18-26=   The  Anglican  Conference  in  Shanghai. 

Apr.  26.  General  Synod  of  the  Chung  Hwa  Sheng  Kung 
Hui,  or  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  in  China, 
fully  organized  immediately  following  the  close 

1913  of  the  Anglican  Conference. 

October.  General  Convention  changes  name  of  District  of 
Wuhu  to  District  Anking. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


American  Bible  Society,  gift 
to  Mission,  8;  3O3 

American  Episcopal  Church, 
foreign  policy  of,  37 

American  Episcopal  Church 
in  China,  The,  quoted,  152 

American  Episcopal  Missions 
in  China,  Church  of  Eng 
land  &,  205 ;  indifference  of 
home  Church  to,  211-212; 
division  of  missionary  jur 
isdiction,  245-261  , 

American   Lutheran   Mission, 

314 

Amoy,  27-29;  37-39;  oi  f 
Ancell,  Rev.  Mr.,  267,  296,  299 
Anglican  Bishops,  conference 

of,  205,  258 

Anglican  Commission,  organ 
ized,  327 
Anglican   Mission   School, 

Honolulu,  198 
Anhui,  province,  207,  219,  236, 

245,  323 

Anking,  207,  220,  235,  295,  3^2 
Archbishop     of     Canterbury, 

quoted,  84;  327 
Arms,  Mr.,  13 

B 

Baird  Hall,  88 

Baptism,  change  in  require 
ments  for,  115 

Barrenstyne,  Dr.,  German 
missionary,  20 

Batavia,  Gutzlaff  sent  to,  9; 
our  missionaries  in,  11-15. 
20-25 


Bates,  Rev.  &  Mrs.  Daniel  M., 
Jr.,  94;  leave  China,  115 

Bedell,  Mrs.,  donation  by,  210, 
218 

Bible  Women,  training  school 
for,  190,  219,  266,  267,  286, 

3M 

Bintenzorg    (Java),   13 

Board  of  Missions  organized, 
Hankow,  3T7 

Boone  College,  founded,  79; 
native  preachers  trained  at, 
92;  English  taught  at,  no; 
growth  &  changes  at,  118, 
157,  177,  188,  203,  222, 
225,  232,  277;  Sowerby  in 
charge  of,  119,  159  J  first 
graduates  at,  279;  Chinese 
favor,  280  ;  a  university,  308 

Boone,  Dr.  Henry  W.,  work 
of,  64,  120,  184 

Boone  Library,  310 

Boone,  Mrs.  W.  J.,  quoted, 
H3 

Boone,  William  J.,  volunteers 
for  China,  18;  in  Batavia, 
22-29;  on  furlough,  29-30; 
at  Shanghai,  40  **  seQ-! 
elected  Bishop,  36;  death, 
71,  75;  quoted,  121,  204; 
succeeded  by  son,  125;  77» 
93,  loo 

Boone,  William  Jones,  second 
Bishop  of  China,  125;  opens 
St.  Mary's  Orphanage,  142; 
quoted,  144,  151,  156,  234; 
moves  to  Hankow,  145.  17*  • 
death,  174;  220 
Borland,  Dr.,  223 


364 


Index 


365 


Boxer  Movement,  200,  215, 
224;  229-242;  332 

Boys'  schools,  Boone  starts,  53 

Bridgman,  Mr.,  9 

Bridgeman  Memorial  School, 
H3 

Buddhist  priests  in  Shang 
hai,  46 

Bunn,  Dr.,  Albert  C,  founds 
medical  work,  64,  77,  79-81 ; 
at  Wuchang,  99 ;  quoted,  175 
C 

Canada,  Church  of,  329 

Canton,  Lockwood  &  Hanson 
at,  8- 1 1 ;  &  opium  trade,  21 ; 
internal  trade  of,  135 

Canton   Medical   College,  296 

Cathechists'  Training  Schools, 
165,  247,  284,  294,  299-300 

Chang  Tsz  Tung,  Viceroy, 
friendly  attitude  of,  177, 
230;  offers  financial  aid, 
203,  280 

Changsha,  anti- foreign  dis 
turbances  in,  166,  315;  a 
treaty  port,  235;  245,  256, 
307 

Charleston  (S.  C),  aids  Mis 
sions,  19 

Chekiang,  324,  327 

Chef oo,  63,  72 

Chiao  Wei,  appeal  from,  223 

China,  early  ignorance  about, 
4,  18;  laws  anent  foreign 
ers,  10,  21 ;  new  treaty  with, 
28;  length  of  missionary 
service  in,  41 ;  great  changes 
in,  66,  147;  medical  mis 
sions  in,  80;  educational 
work  in,  87-95,  ?58;  influ 
ence  of  missions  in,  89,  201; 
spread  of  English  language 
in,  in;  first  railway  in, 
153;  war  with  Japan,  197; 
edict  anent  schools,  204; 
the  Revolution,  330-338 


China    Inland    Mission,    146, 

148,  316 

Chinese  children,  57 
Chinese  Churchman,  The, 

founded,  282 
"Chinese  Gordon,"  74 
Chingpoo,  63 
Chinkiang,  city,  126;  mission 

at,  128;  abandoned,  145 
Christian   Herald   Orphanage 

Fund,  293 

Christian  Martyrs,  230 
Chung  Hua  Sheng  Kung  Hui, 

move  toward  founding,  60, 

328,  329 

Chungking,  outbreaks  in,  148 
Church  of  England,  in  China, 

126;     missionaries     massa 
cred,  201 ;  205,  276,  314 
Church      of      Our      Saviour, 

Shanghai,  87,   186,  218,  275 
Church  of  the  Holy  Nativity, 

Wuchang,   116,   184,  222 
Church  of  the  Holy  Saviour, 

296,  325 

Civil   War,   effect   upon   mis 
sions,  73 

Clark,  Miss  Alice  M.,  313 
Collins,  Rev.  H.  C,  184,  224, 

237 

Concordat  of  1908,  327 
Conferences,    of    Bishops,    in 

China,  326,  328,  329 
Confucius,    on    education    of 

women,  66 
Cooper,  Mr.,  241 
Corfe,  Bishop  of  Korea,  2^8 
Cotton,    Bishop    of    Calcutta, 

quoted,  93 
Crummer,  Miss  Lillis,  quoted, 

191-194,  240 

D 

Deas,  Dr.,   176,   184 
Death,  a  subject  shunned  by 
Chinese,  161 


366 


Index 


Dodson,  Miss  S.  L.,  long  ser 
vice  of,  150;  quoted,  190, 
241 

Duane  Hall  &  Divinity  School, 
81,  88,  144,  188,  256,  280,  294 


Edict  of  toleration,  146,  147, 
149 

Education  in  China,  52  el 
seq.;  among  women,  66, 
312;  significant  develop 
ment  of,  87-95,  1 10,  203- 
204;  effect  of  Boxer  out 
break  on,  232 ;  training  day- 
school  teachers,  252;  255 

Elgin,  Lord,  Treaty  of,  135 

Elizabeth  Bunn  Memorial 
Hospital,  81 

Ellis,  W.  T.,  quoted,  on  Mis 
sion  schools,  89;  on  St. 
John's  University,  301 

Emma  Jones  Memorial 
School,  113 

Empress  Dowager,  desposes 
Emperor,  215 ;  issues  edicts, 
231 ;  330 

England,  Opium  War  with, 
21-22;  28 

English,  teaching  of,  no,  177 

F 
Fay,   Miss  Lydia  M.,  55-57; 

59,  65,  72,  81,  88 
Fish,  Dr.,  41,  64,  71,  80 
Foochow,  28,  61 
Foreigners,    f  o  r  b  i  d  de  n   to 

travel,    21 ;    treated    better^ 

109;  outbreaks  against,  148, 

166,  171,  229;  services  for, 

186 
Fukien,   Church   of   England 

Mission  in,  314 
Fu  Ta  Hwan,  Rev.  Mr.,  297 
Fung  Tsen  Seng,  Rev.   Mr., 

143 


Gates,  Dr.,  239 

General  Conventions,  36,  76, 

224,  246,  269,  323 
General    Theological    Semin 
ary,  i,  217 

Giles,  Dr.,  quoted,  56 
Gill,  Rev.  J.  M.  B.,  298 
Gillett,     Miss,    first    spinster 

appointed,  35 
Gil  man,  Rev.  A.  A.,  316 
Giris,    unwelcome    in    China, 
142,    240,    241 ;    educational 
plans  for,  255,  280,  312 
Girls'  School,  55,  65,  190,  280 
Glennie,  Alexander,  37 
Glenton,  Dr.  Mary  V.,  223 
Gods,  Chinese,  amusing  story 

of,  130,  154 

Grace  Church,  Shanghai,  218 
Graham,    Richardson,    35,    53 
Graves,    Bishop    F.    R.,    116, 
174,    183;   locates   at   Han 
kow,  184;  calls  conference, 
187;   quoted,    188,  202,  206, 
209,  218,  220,  260,  265,  268, 
328 ;   organizes  training 
school,    191-192;    &    Prayer 
Book    revision,    206;    visits 
outstations,  215 ;  plans  divi 
sion    of    jurisdiction,    245- 
248;  235,  269,  270,  324 
Graves,  Mrs.  F.  R.,  103,  1x4, 

119 

Guest  Rooms,  159,  274 
Gutzlaff   Hospital,    Shanghai, 

120 

Gutzlaff,  Karl  F.  A.,  career 
of,  9;  Chinese  Testament 
of,  61 

H 

Han  River,  100,  134,  206 

Hangchow,  128 

Hankow  Normal  School,  313 


Index 


367 


Hankow,  beginnings  at,  77- 
81,  99,  no;  church  opened, 
116,  176,  233;  a  central  sta 
tion,  134,  137,  156;  ordina 
tions  at,  143;  growth  at, 
169-171,  179,  186,  221,  275, 
307, 354 ;  Boone  dies  at,  174 ; 
chapel  erected  at,  210;  train 
ing  schools  at,  165,  224,  267, 
286,  294,  300;  first  bishops 
of,  245-248;  Bishop  Ingle's 
tomb  at,  260;  167,  168; 
Normal  School,  313 ;  Japan 
ese  work  in,  318;  library, 
319;  division  of  diocese, 
323;  &  the  Revolution, 
332;  337 

Hankow-Pekin  Railroad,  284 

Hanson,  Rev.  F.  R.,  accom 
panies  Lockwood  to  Ba- 
tavia,  7-15,  20;  returns 
home,  20 

Hanchuan,  206-209 ;  224,  284 

Han  Yang,  city,  100,  144,  168, 
177;  notable  gift  at,  276 

Hare,  Bishop  of  So.  Dakota, 
quoted,  178 

Haslep,  Dr.,  at  Wuchang, 
151 

Hohing,  Augustus,  77,  78 

Holy  Catholic  Church  in 
China,  born,  329 

Holy  Trinity  Church,  Shang 
hai,  125 

Honan,  329 

Hongkew,  American  quarter. 
Shanghai,  87;  medical 
school  at,  184;  218 

Hong  Kong,  40,  61,  276 

Honolulu,  198,  334 

"Horatio,"  Boone  sails  on,  39 

Hoyt,  Samuel  R.  J.,  77; 
quoted,  100-102;  retires,  104 

Hsia,  Mr.,  gift  of,  276 

Hsinti,  opened,  208,  209 

Hu,  Rev.  Mr.,  189,  253,  283 


Huang,  Mr.,  316 

Hubbell,  Mr.,  72 

Hukow,  318 

Hunan,  disturbances  emanate 

from,    166,    171 ;    work    in, 

234,  245,  256,  307,  328,  329 
Hung  Hsiu-Chuan,  sets  Chma 

aflame,  73 

Huntington,  Miss  Maria,  293 
Huntington,      Rev.      D.      T., 

arrival    of,    206;    generous 

gift   of,   209;   quoted,   209; 

221;    at    Ichang,    237,    282, 

292;     Bishop     of     Wuhu, 

324-325 
Hupeh,  province,  189,  208,  219, 

230,  245,  317 
Hwang  Min   Kao,  Rev.  Mr., 

143,  144,  235 
Hwang  Pi,  137,  284 
Hwangpoo  River,  44 

I 

Ichang,   trade   school   at,   55, 
292-293;    progress    at,    146, 
156,  159,  237,  282;  riots  at, 
172,  184;  224,  317 
I-jau,  petition  from,  268 
India,  &  opium,  21;  158 
Ingle,    Rev.   J.   A.,    165,    177, 
180;  in  charge  of  Hankow, 
184;  quoted,    186,  210,  249, 
253.  256;   visits  Hanchuan, 
206;    at    Hsinti,    208;    212, 
215,  234;  elected  Bishop  of 
Hankow,   246-247;    on   dis 
cipline,  251 ;  vigorous  policy 
of,    255-257;     death,     258; 
message  to  Chinese  Chris 
tians,    259;    inscription    on 
tomb,  260;  271,  278,  282 
Ingle  Hall,  opened,  278 

J 

Jackson,  Rev.  James,  280 
Jane  Bohlen  Memorial  School, 
see  St.  Hilda's 


368 


Index 


Japan,  bishop  of,  75-76,  125; 

war  with  China,   197,  231 ; 

contact  with,  283;  101,  153, 

178,  225,  248,  336 
Japanese,  in  China,  318 
Java,   Church's   first  oriental 

work  in,  14,  20 
Jefferys,  Dr.  W.  H.,  269 
Jefferys,   Mr.   Charles   P.   B., 

269 

Jessfield,  see  Shanghai 
Jones,  Miss  Emma,  35,  53,  55- 

59;  65,  72 

K 

Keith,  Mr.,  72 
Kenyon  College,  78 
Khartoun,  hero  of,  74 
Kia-ding  district,  237,  296 
Kiangsi,    province,    221,    233, 

245,  283,  323,  328 
Kiangsu,  horrors  of  rebellion 

in,   74;   219,  245,  268,  296, 

299 
Kiukiang,   126,  221,  233,  256, 

307 

Korea,  158,  198,  199,  248 
Kublai  Khan,  referred  to,  4 
Kucheng,  massacre  in,  201 
Ku-lang-su,  island,  27-29 
Kuling,  258 

Kwang  Su,  Emperor,  200 
Kwei,   Mei    Peng,   Rev.   Mr., 

128;     at    Wuhu,     145;     at 

Shasi,  209 
Kwangsi,  329 
Kyoto,  224,  270 

L 

Lambeth  Agreement,  327 
Langford,  Rev.  Dr.,  176 
Lawrence,  Bishop  of  Massa 
chusetts,  270 
Learn— China's    Only    Hope, 

referred  to,  203 
Lee,  Rev.  E.  J,,  quoted,  326 


Li,  189 

Liberia,  doctors  sent  to,  79 
Lieo,  Viceroy  at  Nanking,  230 
Lieo  Ying  Tung,  144 
Li  Hung  Chang,  204 
Liggins,  Mr.,  172 
Lindstrom,  Mr.,  217;  at  An- 

king,  221,  236 
Lintin,  8,  9 
Littell,  Mrs.,  267 
Littell,  Rev.  Mr.,  223,  233,  300 
Liu  Chin- An,  a  Chinese  saint, 

320 
Locke,   Rev.  &  Mrs.  A.  H., 

arrival,    134;    quoted,    135, 

137,  155,  169;  165,  171,  177, 

184,  247 

Lockwood,  Dr.,  45,  62 

Lockwood,  Henry,  Hanson'i 
colleague,  6-16;  20,  22,  23, 
33,  45 

London  Missionary  Society, 
16,  27,  45,  62 

Low  Library,  269 

Lukang,  274 

Lund,  Mr.,  217,  220 

Lung  Hwa  Ngan,  station  at, 
117 

Lyde,  Augustus  Foster,  in 
itiates  Church's  work  in 
China,  3-7 

M 

Macao,  9 ;  Boone  visits,  26 
Mackay,  Dr.,  207 
MacWillie,  Dr.  John,  332 
McGatchie,  Mr.,  60 
McKim,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  183, 

248,  270 

McRae,  Miss  Florence,  184 
McRae,  Rev.  C.  F.,  238 
Manchus,   112,   166,   171,  226, 

298,  330 


Index 


369 


Mandarin,  China's  official  lan 
guage,  82;  Old  Testament 
&  Prayer  Book  translated 
into,  120,  206;  143,  246,  296, 
297 

Massie,  Rev.  R.  K.,  176 

Medhurst,  Dr.,  12,  13,  15; 
book  by,  20;  45,46;  Chineso 
Testament  of,  61 ;  62 

Medical  work  in  China,  63-65, 
129,  256 

Mencius,  quoted,  147 

Merrins,  Dr.,  at  Wuchang, 
176,  184;  at  Anking,  208; 
quoted,  307,  308 

Milnpr,  Dr.,  6 

Mission  Conference,  first,  187, 
190 

Mission  Schools,  position  of, 
203-205;  grow  in  popular 
ity,  232 ;  teachers  trained  in, 
252,  276;  312 

Moloney,  Bishop,  324 

Morrison,  Dr.,  great  pioneer, 
4,  8,  9 ;  Chinese  New  Testa 
ment  of,  61 ;  153 

Morse,    Miss    Mary,    25,    53, 

59,  71 

Mosher,  Rev.  Mr.,  237;  quot 
ed,  270;  299  m 

Moule,  Bishop  in  Mid-China, 
125 

N 

Nagasaki,  77 

Nan  Chang,  capital  of  Ki- 
angsi,  256,  283 

Nanking,  126,  230,  298 

Nanjing,  274 

Napier,  Lord,  treatment  in 
China,  21 

Native  workers,  importance 
of  training,  91,  165;  a 
splendid  body,  131-132; 
Bishop  Hare  on,  178;  118, 
129,  169,  189-190,  209,  257 


Nelson,  Dr.  Robert,  77,  115, 
153,  186 

Netherland  Missionary  So 
ciety,  9 

New  Testament,  in  Chinese,  61 

Newton,  E.  A.,  6 

Nganhwei,  see  Anhui 

Nichols,  Bishop  of  Califor 
nia,  299 

Nichols,  Rev.  Mr.,  267;  quot 
ed,  299 

Nmgpo,  28,  44,  61 


Occidentals,  Chinese  opinion 
of,  21 

Olyphant,  Mr.,  9 

Opium  War,  21-22;  ends,  28 

Orient,  our  first  woman  mis 
sionary  to,  16;  uncertain 
ties  of,  23 

Orientals,     conservatism     of, 

Orrick,  Mr.,  83 

Osgood,    Miss    Pauline,    222, 

281 
Out-stations,  establishing,  62- 

63,  94,   128;   medical  work 

at,  129 


Pan,  Anglican,  second,  84 
Parker,  Dr.,  5,  9;  killed  by 

mob,  72 
Partridge,  Sydney  C,  quoted, 

127,  132,  154,  159,  167,  178, 

189,    203;     184,    206,    222; 

elected    Bishop    of    Kyato, 

224;  248,  270,  280 
Pekin,  Schereschewsky  at,  72, 

76,  82;  edicts  from  147,  14^, 

230;  exciting  times  at,  215, 

231;  236,  335 
Perkins,  George  A.,  79 
Philadelphia,    meeting   in,    7; 

Bible  Society  of,  8;  34 


370 


Index 


Pointer,  Mr.,  72 
Porter,  Miss,  284 
Pott,  Dr.  F.  L.  H.,  150,  185; 
quoted,  202;   206,  217,  260, 

324 

Pott,  Mrs.  F.  L.  H.,  see  Wong 
Prayer  Book,  revision  of,  200 
Purden,  Mr.,  72 
Purple,  Miss,  152 


Rees,  Rev.  Mr.,  284 

Revolution  of  1911,  330-338 

Rice  Riots,  Changsha,  315 

Richmond,  Miss  A.  B.,  quot 
ed,  152;  281 

Ridgely,  Mr.,  233 

Riot  Year,  The,  166 

Roberts,  Miss  Josephine,  set 
Graves 

Roman  Catholic  Missions,  de 
stroyed,  148;  animosity  to, 
171,  229;  208 

Roman  Catholic  Orphanage, 
Hankow,  141 

Roman  Catholics,  at  Shang 
hai,  45 

Roots,  Mrs.,  267,  314;  quoted, 
321 

Roots,  Rev.  L.  H.,  165,  206, 
215,  260;  succeeds  Bishop 
Ingle,  269-271 ;  significant 
request  to,  280;  union  edu 
cational  work  of,  282 ;  sends 
Mr.  Hu  to  Japan,  283; 
quoted,  291,  296,  310,  322; 
304.  320,  324 

Russia-Japan  War,  283,  318 


St.   Agnes    School,   256,   295, 

325 
St.     Bartholomew's     Church 

House,  Hankow,  169 
St.    Elizabeth's    Hospital, 

Shanghai,  erected,  239 


St.  Hilda's  Girls'  School,  79, 

103,    119,   222,   256,   280,   28l, 
309,   3H 

St.  James'  Church,  N.  Y.  City, 
271 ;  Wuhu,  272 

St.  James'  Hospital,  Anking, 
295,  325 

St.  John's  Church,  Jessfield, 
219,  324,  329 

St.  John's,  Hankow,  186,  221 ; 
new  edifice  consecrated,  233 

St.  John's  College,  establish 
ed,  87,  89,  120;  Mr.  Yen  at, 
100 ;  teaching  of  English  at, 
no;  Renaissance  at,  112; 
Chapel  erected  for,  114; 
126;  Divinity  School  moved 
from,  144-145;  progress  at, 
149,  157,  184,  202,  232; 
Bishop  Hare  on,  179;  218; 
gifts  to,  276;  a  university, 
285;  extension  of,  300-302; 
324 

St.  Luke's  Hospital,  Shang 
hai,  94,  120,  152,  239;  new 
building  for,  269;  303 

St.  Mary's  Orphanage,  Shang 
hai,  beginnings  of,  141 ; 
Miss  Dodson  at,  150;  Miss 
Wong's  work  at,  150;  219 

St.  Mary's  School,  opened, 
113;  Bishop  Boone  on,  151; 
progress  at,  219,  241 

St.  Paul's  Chapel  (Cathe 
dral),  Hankow,  99,  137; 
first  ordinations  in,  143-144, 
177,  186,  221 ;  Bishop  Ingle 
consecrated  in,  248;  a  tem 
porary  hospital,  332 

St.  Paul's  Divinity  School, 
223 

St.  Paul's  High  School,  295 

St.  Paul's  School,  Anking,  325 

St.  Peter's  Chapel,  137.  209, 
210,  218,  221 


Index 


Sampan,  Chinese  rowboat, 
221 

San  Ting  Ko,  mission  at,  94 

Savage,  T.  S.,  79 

Sayres,  Rev.  &  Mrs.  William 
S.,  94;  at  Wuchang,  103- 
105,  114;  116;  quoted,  117, 
118,  129;  return  to  Shang 
hai,  119;  at  Chinkiang,  128 

Schereschewsky,  Mrs.,  83 ; 
quoted,  105 

Schereschewsky,  Samuel  Isaac 
Joseph,  translates  Bible  at 
Pekin,  72;  76,  77;  early 
career  of,  82-84;  episcopate 
of,  87  et  seq.;  112;  fatal 
illness  of,  114;  116;  retire 
ment,  119;  successor,  125; 
death,  149,  185,  206,  285; 
302 

Scott,  Bishop  in  North  China, 
125,  126 

Scriptures,  translated,  60-62, 
114,  120,  285,  303 

Selwyns,  referred  to,  126 

Shanghai,  28;  Boone's  work 
in,  40-67;  a  description  of, 
43-46;  medical  work  in,  80, 
129;  Church's  progress  in, 
81,  112;  American  settle 
ment  in,  87 ;  St.  John's  Col 
lege,  89;  desire  to  learn 
English  in,  no;  hospitals  at 
94,  120,  128,  239,  269;  or 
phanage  established,  141 ; 
idolatrous  feasts  at,  154; 
menaced,  172 ;  training 
school,  191,  209;  growth  in, 
149,  202,  218,  237;  confer 
ence  of  Anglican  Bishops 
at,  205,  258;  jurisdiction 
separated,  245-247 ;  Yen 
Hall  built  in,  268;  confer 
ence  in,  274 ;  day  schools  at, 
281;  visiting  in,  287;  girls' 
schools  at,  312;  175 


Shanghai  Literary  &  Debat 
ing  Club,  133 

Shang  Ti  Hui,  society  so- 
called,  74 

Shantung,  province,  conserv 
atism  in,  204 

Shasi,  Mission  opened  at,  146, 
156;  work  at,  159-161,  209, 
256,  307;  184,  223 

Sheng  Kung  Hui,  formed,  205 

Sherman,  Rev.  A.  M.,  223,  234 

Shihnan,  189 

Shi  Huang  Ti,  first  Chinese 
emperor,  49-50 

Shinti,  223 

Sinclair,  Rev.  Mr.,  296 

Singapore,  Lockwood  &  Han 
son  at,  10-12 

Sinza,  suburb  of  Shanghai, 
63,  218,  240 

Slave  girls,  240 

Smalley,  Mr.  &  Mrs.,  151 

Smith,  Mrs.,  72 

Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.,  quot 
ed,  132,  142 

Smith,  Rev.  G.,  40 

Soochow,  44,  77,  245 ;  opened, 
267;  296,  299 

Southgate,  Horatio,  37 

Sowerby,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  Her 
bert,  join  Mission  staff, 
119;  at  Ichang,  146,  156, 
159,  184;  quoted,  161,  172 

Spirit  of  Missions,  The, 
quoted,  17,  18,  27,  29,  41, 
60,  62,  76,  104,  114,  118, 
148,  161,  229,  235,  242,  297, 
303,  319,  328,  329 

Students'  Missionary  Society, 
225 

Suez  Canal,  &  religion,  187 

Sung,  Mrs.,  quoted,  287 

Sun  Yat  Sen,  198;  quoted, 
334 


37* 


Index 


Syle,  Rev.  Edward  W.,  35, 
53;  diary  of,  62,  65;  72 

Szchuen,  province  of,  127; 
persecution  starts  in,  148; 
massacre  in,  201 ;  324 

Szenan,  317 


Taj  Chwo,  297 

Taihu,  236 

Tai  Ping  rebellion,  73 

Tai  Tsang,  missionary  center 
at  Shanghai,  109 

Tai-Tsau,  237 

Thibet,  336 

Thomson,  Mrs.  Elliott  D.,  re 
tirement  &  death,  quoted, 
152 

Thomson,  Rev.  E.  D.,  72,  76, 
77,  80,  81,  82,  88,  129,  185, 
206;  semi-centenary  of,  302 

Tientsin,  204 

Three  Kingdoms,  The,  quot 
ed,  261 

Tokyo,  Bishop  Williams  in, 
75-77;  270;  Chinese  stu 
dents  in,  283 ;  Bishop  Sche- 
reschewsky  dies  in,  285 

Trade  School,  at  Ichang,  292 

Treaty  of  1842,  28 

Tsen,  189 

Tseng,  Rev.  Mr.,  317 

Ts'ing-poo  district,  Shanghai, 
268,  284,  296 

Tsu,  Rev.  P.  N.,  238 

Tsun  I  Fu,  Rev.  Mr.,  143 

Tsz  Tsen  Fang,  Rev.  Mr.,  224 

Turks,  4 

Twing,   Mrs.,  quoted,   185 

Tying,  Rev.  Mr.  D.,  318 

U 

Uplift  of  China,  The,  quoted, 
260 

V 
Vail,  Bishop   of   Kansas,   on 


W 

Wang  Swun-I,  Rev.  Mr.,  143, 
144 

Ward,  Miss  Lily  F.,  222,  223 

Warren,  Rev.  E.  W.,  272 

Wenli,  Bible  translated  into, 
114,  120;  Prayer  Book  in, 
206 

Wesleyan  Mission,  Wuchang, 
282,  296 

West  Coast  of  Africa,  36 

Williams  Hall,  Boone  Col 
lege,  222 

White,  Bishop,  ^ 

Williams,  Rt.  Rev.  Channing 
Moore,  elected  bishop  of 
China  &  Japan,  74-76 ;  prog 
ress  at  Shanghai  under,  8l- 
82;  Boone  consecrated  by, 
125 ;  308 

Winslow,  Mrs.,  239 

Wolfe,  Archdeacon  of  South 
China,  quoted,  200 

Woman's  Auxiliary,  raises 
money,  103,  191,  312;  Chi 
nese  branch  organized,  185 ; 
239,  241 

Wong,  Miss  (Mrs.  F.  L.  H. 
Pott),  113,  132,  141;  work 
at  St.  Mary's,  150-151 

Wong  Kong  Chai,  story  of, 
47-5i;  54,  65,  72,  132,  303 

Wong  Memorial  Hall,  275 

Woo,  Rev.  Mr.,  109,  120,  130, 
132,  303 

Wood,  Miss  Mary  E.,  310 

Wood,  Rev.  Mr.,  223 

Woods,  Henry  W.,  35,  41 

Woodward,   Dr.,  quoted,  235 

Woosung,  28,  43 

Wray,  Miss,  71 


Index 


373 


Wuchang,  medical  work  in, 
64,  80,  129,  151,  176;  Boone 
Memorial  School  at,  79, 
118,  177;  struggle  to  sur 
vive  in,  99-106,  166;  prog 
ress  at,  1 10,  221-222,  308, 
309;  church  erected  at,  114, 
116;  Sowerbys  at,  119;  126, 
134;  ordinations  at,  143; 
Divinity  School  at,  144, 
280;  156,  172,  174;  Mr. 
Partridge  leaves,  224;  230, 
235;  Wesleyans  at,  282; 
hospitals  &  library  at,  310; 
during  the  Revolution,  330 

Wuhu,  126;  opened,  145,  156; 
riot  at,  172;  new  church  at, 
271-273,  307;  the  new  mis 
sionary  district,  323-329  J 
184,  220,  237,  245 

Wusueh,  172 

Wusih,  237,  238,  245,  268,  294, 
296,  299 

Y 

Yang,  Mr.,  in  charge  at 
Hankow,  Ii6,  137 


Yangchow,  296,  297 

Yangtse  River,  described,  42- 
43;  loo,  103,  127,  134,  154, 
156,  168,  292 

Yangtse  Valley,  76,  126 

Yeh  Tsang  Fa,  Rev.,  143 

Yen  Hall,  erection  of,  268 

Yen  Yun  Kiung,  Rev.,  vener 
ated,  78;  quoted,  92,  94;  at 
St.  John's  College,  100; 
McPartridge  on,  132;  de 
fends  Christianity,  133 ; 
Bishop  Graves  on,  218; 
College  called  after,  268 

Yoh,  Dr.,  296 

Yokum,  Mr.,  72 

Young,  Mr.,  13 

Yu,  Rev.  Mr.,  284 

Yuan  Shih  Kai,  President  of 
China,  334 

Yung  Wing,  112 

Z 

Zang-zok,  61 ;  opened,  237 ; 
297 


DATE  DUE 


97.8-5* 

51 

NOV  2  - 

Church 


in 


DATE 


BR  1285  G78  1913  TRIN 
Gray,  Arthur  R. 
T  h  e  s  t  o  r  •  y  o  f  t  h  e  C  h  u  r  c:  h  :i.  n 
China   136233